


Insatiable Curiosity

by TomasNostradamus



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24451327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomasNostradamus/pseuds/TomasNostradamus
Summary: Gilbert and Anne both go to Avonlea high, but have never actually met, even though they also live close to each other. Through John Blythe's orchestration and Marilla's cooperation, they finally meet after Gilbert graduates and his father dies. Anne is a strong, confident junior who hates hockey and while she is aware of Gilbert's existence, that's about as far as her interest in him  goes. Gilbert is the golden boy who has become sick of false pleasantries, platitudes and people who just tell you what you want to hear.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe & Sebastian "Bash" Lacroix, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 121
Kudos: 250





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Rated teen for language. 
> 
> Not gonna lie, this is a bit of a mess, but I sat down and it came out. There are going to be mistakes and modern AUs aren't my thing, so be nice. Also, I live in the United States so I apologize if some of the references aren't appropriate for PEI, but I didn't feel motivated enough to find equivalents, just pretend with me.
> 
> Updates should be up quickly, it's nearly done, I just wanted to post this first bit so I would stop editing it.
> 
> Title is from a line in Picard which moderately motivated this story.

Something happened when Gilbert Blythe lost his father after his senior year of high school, but it wasn’t what people expected. They expected him to be sad, mad, depressed, frustrated; all of it. And he was for a bit; from the day of the diagnosis until the funeral six weeks later he was all those things and more, but the true change was more subtle than that, and no one saw it coming. The day of the funeral, it was like a switch was flipped. Gilbert Blythe got real; he got honest. He didn’t try to be rude, but sometimes his candor gave that impression. He just didn’t care to waste time on pleasantries anymore. If someone asked him his opinion, he would give it earnestly. If someone was being an ass, he would call him out on it. If there was a girl he thought was pretty, he would tell her. He asked himself, what did he have to lose? And the answer, unfortunately, was nothing. He had absolutely nothing to lose.

He figured he was all he had, so he might as well be real. His mother died moments after giving birth to him; his two older sisters fell like dominoes after that, having rare genetic disorders that no one could do anything about. Suddenly, he and his dad were the only ones left. In an effort to leave behind bad memories in Alberta, John moved them back to PEI when Gilbert was three; back to the house and orchard he had grown up in.

They were a small happy family, for a while. John watched Gilbert grow like a weed, as kids tend to do while their parents are complaining about sleepless nights, toddlers refusing to wear pants, endless fights about eating vegetables and the pre-teen confusion and anger everyone knows is coming but still doesn’t know how to deal with.

When Gilbert was twelve, shortly after school let out for the summer, he asked exactly how his mother had died and John told him the truth. Despite everything John did to convince him otherwise, Gilbert believed he murdered his mother. He didn’t sleep for weeks. John would find him in a trance, walking through the orchard in a state of half-awareness. The second time this happened, John decided to lock him in his room at night to keep him safe, but in the end he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he brought Gilbert’s bed into his bedroom and locked them both inside together. It was a tight squeeze, but it was worth it. John would hold Gilbert’s hand while they slept. The proximity to his father helped Gilbert and eventually he even started smiling again. After months of searching for the words to ease his son’s mind, he finally broke through to him when he said, “Your mother was remarkable Gilbert. She loved her children with every ounce of her heart and soul. She knew getting pregnant again was risky, and honestly, I tried to talk her out of it, but she wanted you; she wanted her baby boy. She felt there was a piece of our family missing, that there was an important person the world needed that she was responsible for bearing. If we could talk to her now, I know without a doubt, she would do it again a thousand times over to bring you into the world.”

After learning what was sacrificed so he could live, Gilbert put everything he had into never being a disappointment to his father. He needed to make up for her absence and be sure he wasn’t a burden. Always intelligent, though not seeing the point in doing his homework and therefore suffering mediocre grades as a result, Gilbert was suddenly at the head of his class and remained there through graduation. He played trumpet in the school band, working his way up to first chair junior year and while he wasn’t especially passionate about it, even he couldn’t deny his natural skill at the instrument. It was an easy A and he got to spend the hour hanging out with his friend Moody, so he could hardly complain.

He participated in various clubs and groups in school, his favorite being science club. Now, Gilbert loved science, he really did, but at the start there was no semblance of any science activity in science club. It was mostly a time to sit around and relax. They talked about life and their future options with Gilbert’s favorite teacher, who yes, happened to be a science teacher. Mr. Lacroix, who was also the hockey coach and someone Gilbert considered a friend and mentor, had a unique upbringing, to say the least, which brought entertainment and insight to the students. He was an amazing science teacher, truly passionate about the subject, but Avonlea was lacking in diversity of every kind and Mr. Lacroix chose this time to teach them that the real world was vastly different than the one they knew. By the start of Gilbert’s senior year, science club was one of the most popular clubs at Avonlea High and while Sebastian was proud of what he established in such a short time (he had only been there two years), he was starting to think that perhaps they should do something science-y in science club. This is how it came to be that Gilbert would bring a different fruit or vegetable to science club every week so they could dip it in liquid nitrogen. Mr. Lacroix would then post an equation or question on the board. Whoever got the correct answer first got to smash the frozen food to pieces, you know, for science.

Gilbert went out for the hockey team his freshman year and played a year on junior varsity before moving up to varsity as a sophomore. While he didn’t have the build or innate skill many of his teammates did, he worked hard and was a natural leader which was why he was elected team captain for both his junior and senior year. His efforts at keeping the peace between his teammates and his encouragement and willingness to help make everyone better led them to the finals for the first time in Avonlea’s history during his junior year. In his senior year, it was Gilbert who convinced his coach to accept a freshman onto the varsity team for the first time, because Gilbert just had a good feeling about him. “He’s fast and scrappy. I’ve never seen a better skater and he’s young yet, with a little help he’s going to be amazing. Mark my words, Bash, that kid will be invaluable.” Jerry was added to the roster and scored all three of their goals in the championship game, the last of which broke the tie with only eight seconds remaining. Though it was Jerry who the team lifted into the air, it was Gilbert who was held back on the bench and hugged tightly by his coach and friend, “This was all you Blythe, and don’t you forget it. You are the reason we are here and you are the reason we won.”

Yes, after years of trying to be perfect for his father, that is what he appeared to have become. He was polite, he was smart, he was athletic, he was surrounded by friends and he had a father who could not love him more or be more proud of him. When Jon was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer the day after his graduation, Gilbert Blythe broke. The doctors tried to be optimistic, but he wasn’t an idiot; he knew it was a death sentence. Nothing was ever going to be enough. What was all his effort for? What was the point when everything gets taken away from him?

John was gone by mid-July. Gilbert grieved while his father was still alive. He spent every moment at his bedside, reminiscing, crying, joking around, talking about Gilbert’s future and yelling in frustration and anger. By the time the funeral came around, Gilbert wasn’t really over it, he never would be, but he knew the hardest part was over. The best words to describe his emotional state at this point were exhausted and accepting. He felt cheated, obviously, but it was nice that he had a warning, so at least they could both say what needed to be said. John’s acknowledgment that Gilbert was living through hell and that life wasn’t fair was a comfort to Gilbert. He appreciated that John was just honest and didn’t try to pretend everything was just going to automatically be okay. “There is no point in pretending this is anything other than it is, son; this is a fucking shitty situation I’m leaving you in. It pains me to no end that I won’t be here with you for everything wonderful in your life yet to come; and it will be wonderful, I promise you that. Find something you love to do and make a living at it. Find some place you love and make a life there. Find someone you love and you will find your home. Now, the universe doesn’t play fair, we both know that, but I know you will find your equal out there, and I think she’s closer than you realize.”

“Dad, I told you I’m not interested in Winnie. She’s pretty, but I don’t think how I feel about her will change.”

“Winnie’s nice, but I agree. That’s not who I’m talking about. Just keep your eyes and your heart open.”

“How is this, right here, the weirdest conversation we’ve had in the last five weeks? If you have someone in mind, just say it.”

“No, then you’ll do that teenager thing where you don’t do what you really want to do, because it’s in agreement with what I think and heaven forbid you prove your old man is right for even two seconds.”

Gilbert winced. _It’s not like you’ll be around to say ‘I told you so.’_ “Let me get this straight, you’re dying, yet you refuse to tell me about some girl you think I would like? Wouldn’t it give you some relief to set me off in the right direction?”

“I’ve taken care of that already.”

“The hell dad,” Gilbert sighed as he rubbed his eyes in frustration, “Fine. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can you tell me anything more about mom, or my sisters, or yourself? Anything else I should know?”

So they talked into the night, Gilbert falling asleep at his father’s bedside, holding his hand while they slept together for the last time.

*

They held what was supposed to be small service at the church but both the minister and Gilbert were surprised at the turn out. Sebastian, his wife and daughter came and sat with Gilbert in the front. Gilbert was Delphine’s favorite babysitter. The only time Gilbert nearly broke down that day was when she stared at him with her giant brown eyes and said, “My daddy said your daddy wanted to stay, but couldn’t. Do you want to share mine?”

Gilbert choked back his tears, reached down to pick her up, and hugged her as tight as he could without hurting her, “Thank you so much, Dellie, but I don’t need a new daddy, but do you know what I need? Can you sit next to me and hold my hand? I think that would help me.”

The whole hockey team came, with their families, which surprised him for some reason. Sure he was their captain, but he wasn’t especially close with any of them except Charlie. Moody was there too, of course, along with the rest of his close friends and apparently half the school. Even the mayor brought her family to attend. Though quiet, John was a pillar of the community in his own way, and his loyalty to his friends and neighbors was never more apparent than at that moment. People were in attendance that Gilbert had never seen or met before, but everyone looked to truly be grieving; few people go to a funeral for fun, he figured.

Sebastian remained at his side the entire day. After the service, he was approached by a neighbor, but he couldn’t remember her name.

“Gilbert, I’m so, so sorry for your loss. I’m not sure if you remember me or not. My name is Marilla Cuthbert; I was a classmate and friend of your father’s.”

“Oh, yes, of course, Mrs. Cuthbert, thank you for coming today.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it. And it’s just Ms., thank you. Mr. Cuthbert, Matthew, is my brother; we actually live on the farm next to your orchard. I just had coffee with John last month, and I was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”

“Why?”

Marilla was taken aback a bit at his cutting tone, “I made a promise to your father, I don’t want to get into the details, but I would very much like to at least provide you with a good meal and some, hopefully, decent company.”

“Well, my father promised he’d not leave me alone, yet here we are,” he responded bitterly. He truly wasn’t trying to be rude; it just came out.

“Blythe, tighten up, you aren’t alone. He will be joining you for dinner ma’am and he appreciates the invitation.”

“You’re Mr. Lacroix, yes?”

“Yes ma’am, you can call me Sebastian.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you; my Anne speaks highly of you. Anne Shirley-Cuthbert? Junior year, red hair, can talk for days?”

“Ah, yes, I know her well. She’s got a promising future; extremely intelligent, and yes, fairly loquacious, but nearly always in the best way.”

“You’re welcome to join us for dinner as well, especially if that would be more comfortable for you, Gilbert?”

“I think it would, thank you,” he replied.

“We’ll see you both at six tomorrow then.”

Gilbert turned to Sebastian, “Bash, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“Yeah, but I’m going to anyway and you’re going to listen. This place is packed. You are clearly not alone. But if you push us all away with that mouth of yours? You will be.”

*

When the majority of people had left the church, Gilbert and Sebastian walked out to the parking lot.

“You know your father arranged for me to be your caretaker. Now, you’re 18, so it’s mostly symbolic and I can’t make you do anything, but I want you to know that I’m here, and so is Mary. Whatever you need, you come to us. Any time, day or night, we are here for you. Do you understand?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Do you want to stay at your house tonight or would you rather come back and stay with us?”

“I think I want to be alone.”

“I will be over at noon with lunch. We will go over some stuff, watch Fight Club and then we will go to dinner at the Cuthbert’s.”

Gilbert got in his car and drove home. Upon arrival he went directly to the kitchen. He made himself two frozen pizzas and spent the evening eating them, drinking John’s favorite beer and watching Ken Burns’ documentary on the national parks which he chose for two reasons: One, his dad loved nature and it seemed a fitting tribute; Two, Gilbert Blythe was nothing if not a nerd and loved anything and everything Ken Burns created.

Gilbert fell asleep in the living room and woke the next day to crooning on the other side of the front door. Sebastian Lacroix wore many hats, but none as proudly as father. His daughter was four and it was well-known that she was obsessed with absolutely everything related to Frozen. Gilbert didn’t hate the movies and shorts, honestly, he didn’t. When he would babysit Delphine he actually enjoyed watching and singing along with her. It was just a bit unusual that the coach of a championship hockey team insisted on singing the songs during their practices, and now, on Gilbert’s front porch the day after his dad’s funeral.

“I’m making today a perfect day for you! I’m making today a blast if it’s the last thing I do! For everything you are to me and all you’ve been through- I’m making today a perfect day for you!” he sang loudly, knocking a beat on the door. Gilbert knew he was dancing on the other side. “Blythe, open up! I got Chipotle!”

Gilbert opened the door slowly, squinting at the bright light.

“I assume you drank yourself stupid last night, and this,” he said, throwing a 5 pound burrito at his bare chest, “will fix that.”

“Why are you here so early?” he groaned.

“It is 12:30. I’m late. Now eat up. Then you will need to shower and change because I’m not watching a movie with you smelling like that.”

Gilbert inhaled the burrito like a proper high school athlete and went to shower. When he returned in jeans and a plain white t-shirt, Sebastian was waiting.

“I heard you mention to Moody that you weren’t going to college… What’s that about?”

“I just figured I’d take a gap year. Travel a bit. I don’t know what I want to study anyway. I’d rather take some time and figure it out than waste the time and money.”

“You know you don’t need to worry about money, your father made sure of that.”

“I just, I spent so much time trying to be the best I could for him, I never really considered what I wanted besides not wanting to be a disappointment. I think I need to figure out who I am and what I want.”

“That makes sense. Where do you think you’ll go?”

“Europe. And then Taiwan and New Zealand.”

“What about the orchard?”

“I dunno, do you want it?”

Sebastian was drinking and nearly spit out his Coke, “What?”

“You guys live in that tiny apartment. Why don’t you move out here? It’s owned outright, it just needs maintenance throughout the year. I don’t need the money from the sale right now and even if I go to college eventually, I can’t take care of this place.”

“You’re serious?”

“Aren’t I always?”

“Um, okay, I’ll ask Mary; she’s in charge. I’ll let you know. Fight Club?”

“Fight Club.”

Watching Fight Club had become a tradition for them. Delphine went to bed at eight which left a lot of night left after Gilbert was done babysitting. Instead of heading home or to some party he didn’t want to be at, he would stay and hang out with Bash when he got home. He had friends at school, but he found that somehow he had a lot more in common with this twenty-five year old man from Trinidad. They would put on Fight Club, a favorite of both of them, and talk: life, family, love, sports, anything and everything was on the table. After the movie and more conversation, they got ready to head over to the Cuthbert’s.

“Might want to consider a nicer shirt, Marilla seems rather traditional. And go easy on the Axe, no one wants to be smelling that when they eat.”

“Fine,” he said as he went to get a button-up, “and I don’t wear Axe. I’m not 14 anymore.”

“Old Spice for your old soul?” Sebastian yelled after him.

“Shut up!”

*

It was about a ten minute walk to Green Gables. Gilbert found it funny that he remembered the path through the fields so easily, yet had forgotten Marilla’s name, and was somehow unaware there was a kid living there that he went to school with. At the memory of the conversation, Gilbert asked, “Hey, who was that girl you were talking about yesterday, Marilla’s daughter?”

“Anne?”

“Sure.”

“Anne isn’t her daughter, not biologically speaking anyway. Marilla and Matthew decided a few years ago to foster children because they had the means and the space to do so. Anne was orphaned as a baby and had been in the system ever since. The Cuthberts took her in and ended up adopting her. She’s a remarkable girl and incredibly intelligent. Just one look at her in class and I could tell she knew she was smarter than I am. Bless her heart she is so kind she would never say anything about it.”

“And she goes to our school? How have I not met her? Our school isn’t that big and she lives about as close to me as you can get.”

“She’s a junior for starters. And I think you are both pretty busy with school and activities. Also, and I guess I should warn you, she finds hockey absolutely barbaric,” he laughed. “I had her in my homeroom last year. We would do short little debates in the morning with anyone who was interested- her idea. She started debating a couple sophomores on the team about what made hockey the stupidest sport at our school.”

“Well, she sounds absolutely delightful,” he said sarcastically, “Can’t wait to meet her.”

“Blythe, she won.”

“What the fuck do you mean she won?”

“She was debating Paul and Evan. She came up with an impromptu debate berating the sport you hold so dear and after only five minutes, they both agreed with her.”

“Five minutes? Really? Is she cute? Was she wearing a short skirt or something? Low cut top? Were they looking for a date?”

“I have no idea what she was wearing, but I wouldn’t peg her as the short skirt or low cut top type; far too practical for that.”

“So you’re telling me that in five minutes, she convinced two of my smartest guys, who have been playing since they were three, and are nearly guaranteed scholarships upon graduation that hockey was stupid with just her words?”

“Yep.”

“And did you agree?”

“Psshhh, please, do you think I would let a child get into my mind and make me rethink all my life choices regarding hockey?”

There was a brief silence. “Well?”

“Yes, yes I did.”

“Unbelievable.”

“She really is,” Sebastian laughed, “You should have heard her defense of the duck-billed platypus as nature’s most underrated creature, I almost started clapping. I bet she’ll even give you a run for your money.”

“Sorry to say, but I’m not exactly looking forward to listening to some girl I don’t know tell me how stupid my favorite sport is. And as far as underrated animals go, my money’s on the red panda.”

“It’s not just that. Um, I know you haven’t shown much interest in dating, but I assume that you are aware that you are popular and that your female classmates and well, some of the guys too, well how do I put this delicately, they tend to swoon around you?”

“Really Bash? That’s the term you’re going with? What year is it, 1900? Yes, I’m aware I’m popular, and I’m aware that there are some people in school that seem to have crushes on me despite not knowing anything real about me. Are you saying that’s the case here? Is Anne going to act like some groupie?”

Sebastian barked with laughter, “No! That girl won’t give a shit who you are or what your reputation is. She’s real: she is going to speak her mind and you might not like what you hear.”

“What, does she speak poorly about me?”

“I have no idea. But I know that your easy charm won’t work here, so don’t even try.”

“What the hell easy charm are you talking about?”

“Let’s just see what happens,” Sebastian challenged him as he knocked on the door.

*

“Welcome!” Marilla answered the door, “Please come in, and thank you for joining us. This is my brother, Matthew, and Anne should be back any minute now.”

The evening began with the expected condolences of Gilbert’s loss, but quickly progressed to less devastating topics. Ten minutes later they were gathered in the living room talking about the future of the orchard when a bare-footed, soaking wet Anne wearing neon green capri length leggings and matching sports bra barged in carrying a stringer of trout, her ankle covered in dark black spots and more red hair than Gilbert had ever seen pulled into an absolutely wild bun on top of her head.

“I am so sorry! There was a turtle trapped in a plastic bag so I had to swim across the lake to free it and, well, I suppose that is the whole story. Here is dinner for tomorrow, Matthew,” she said as she handed him the stringer.

“Anne! What is on your ankle?”

“Oh, right,” she said, looking down and remembering, “Leeches, Marilla. The damn baby leeches got me again, and look! This time they brought their mama!” she said turning out her leg and pointing to the inside of her ankle, “I think there is only a dozen or so this time, so that is actually an improvement!”

“Anne, you aren’t supposed to swim in the reeds, you know that! It is incredibly dangerous.”

“The turtle Marilla! He would have died!”

“You could have died! It’s not safe!”

“The spot I was in was only a couple feet deep. It was fine, I was safe, I promise. I am going to go change and take care of this situation,” she said gesturing to her ankle, “I will be down as quick as I can. Sorry again for being late,” she turned toward the guests, finally acknowledging them, “Mr. Lacroix! Golden Boy! Welcome to Green Gables!” she said with a smile before running upstairs.

“Matthew, I could use your help in the kitchen. Please excuse us,” Marilla said to Gilbert and Sebastian.

Gilbert couldn’t believe his eyes, or ears, “Golden Boy? What the fuck was that?” he whispered to Sebastian after the Cuthberts had left.

“That…” he said clapping Gilbert on the shoulder “was Anne.”


	2. The Middle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the evening at the Cuthbert Residence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, possibly full of errors, try to ignore them!

“Gilbert, do you know Anne from school?” Marilla asked when she returned to the living room.

“Um, no, we haven’t met. I think I would have remembered her.”

“She does tend to make an impression, doesn’t she?” Matthew chuckled.

“I was just telling him on the walk over how she was able to convince two of his teammates that hockey was stupid in just a five minute debate,” Sebastian said.

“That’s nothing. I’d been smoking pipe for 40 years,” Matthew added, “she had me throwing out my tobacco three minutes after she saw the pipe in my mouth; never picked it up again.”

“Marilla, do you have an Anne testimonial?” Sebastian chuckled.

“Well, I can tell you that I was adamant that we would not be adopting any of the children we foster and a week after her arrival, I was asking her if she wanted to sign our family bible and take our name.”

“Wow, that’s quite the endorsement,” Gilbert affirmed.

“She’s got a way with words, that’s for sure and certain, that girl can endear herself to anyone.”

“That is sweet of you to say Marilla, thank you,” Anne said as she strode into the family room wearing a casual yellow dress, her ankle wrapped in a bandage, her hair still atop her head in that insanely large messy bun. “Can I set the table for you?”

“That would be lovely Anne, thank you. But first, Gilbert here was saying you haven’t actually met, so Gilbert, this is Anne, Anne- Gilbert. I went to school with his father and he lives at the orchard just to the south of our land.”

She walked over to the couch, “Nice to finally meet you Gilbert Blythe,” she said offering her hand to him, “I must admit I trespass frequently on your property and I have been known to eat an apple or two on occasion. I hope you do not mind.”

He stood and took her hand tentatively, surprised by the girl in front of him. “Yes it is, I mean, I don’t, I mean…” He took a breath, “What I’m trying to say is: I don’t mind you trespassing. Or stealing. And it is nice to meet you as well Anne-”

She cut him off. “Shirley-Cuthbert. Anne with an E; Shirley-Cuthbert with a hyphen.”

“Noted,” he smiled, still shaking her hand, looking deeply into her crystal blue eyes. He appreciated her confidence. In his experience, the girls he talked to were either genuinely afraid of him, or overly flirty and complimentary. He understood being nervous in front of someone you find attractive but he could not stand the overt flirtation and excessive compliments. Anne was just… Anne. No pretense. She raised her eyebrow at him questioningly, bringing him back to reality and he dropped her hand. “Sorry,” he said quietly.

She turned to face Marilla, “I will go set the table. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, dear, thank you,” she said as she headed back to the kitchen.

Gilbert sat down on the couch confused, not understanding what just happened. He had never met anyone like Anne before, like, no one else even came close. He felt as though he’d been hypnotized and couldn’t quite shake himself out of it.

“You alright, Blythe?” Sebastian chuckled softly.

He cleared his throat, “Yeah, of course, why do you ask?”

“You have a stupid look on your face.”

“That’s just the way my face is. Thanks for that.”

“You like her,” Sebastian teased.

“She’s interesting, I’ll give you that.”

“No, you moke. You **like** her.”

“I don’t even know her; how could I like her? Also, shut up.”

Sebastian started laughing loudly as Gilbert turned red. “That’s gotta be a record for a fool falling for a lady. What was that, 90 seconds total?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve not fallen anywhere, she’s just different. She surprised me; that’s all.”

*

Conversation during dinner was comfortable and surprising, thanks mostly to Anne’s enthusiasm and lack of filter. Matthew didn’t say much, but his admiration of Anne was ever apparent; pride emanating from every bit of him. Marilla, was proper and traditional, but kind and doting. Gilbert would have loved to have a mother like her. He tried not to stare at Anne, he really did, but apparently he was unsuccessful. Sebastian started pinching his leg every time he caught him and he was starting to bruise.

As far as the actual meal went, it was delicious. No. It was so much more than delicious. Gilbert couldn’t think of a word that adequately described what this meal was.

“Ms. Cuthbert, this is the best meal I’ve had in years, maybe ever. Thank you so much for inviting us over tonight.”

“Thank you Gilbert. It’s actually Anne’s recipe.”

“Of course it is,” Gilbert sighed as he put his fork down to wipe his face.

“What do you mean by that?” Anne asked, slightly offended.

“Don’t mind him, Anne, he’s just used to being the star,” teased Sebastian.

“Ah, no, that’s not it at all, I mean I am, but no,” realizing he was rambling yet again he paused and took a breath. “You have quite the fan club here, that’s all, with all the stories I’ve heard about you, it seems you can do no wrong.”

She and the Cuthberts laughed at that, “You are funny Golden Boy, who knew?”

“Am I? Did you assume I wouldn’t be?”

Anne responded, “I have not given it much thought, having not met you until today. I try not to make assumptions about people from afar. Though, full disclosure, I can and frequently do screw up; sometimes in astonishingly monumental ways. That is why we were all laughing just now; if you only knew what a train wreck I am. Adjusting to life in Avonlea has been quite the learning curve, I promise you that. Thankfully, the Cuthberts are patient with me and forgiving in nature.”

Gilbert smiled, “Care to provide an example? I don’t mean to pry but, honestly, I’m having a hard time believing you based on what I’ve heard today.”

Anne thought for a moment, “Do you know Diana Barry?”

“Yeah, she’s a junior too, right? She’s Mayor Eliza Barry’s daughter.”

“Yes, she is one of my very best friends. Long story short, when we were 13 I accidentally got her drunk before her mom’s inauguration. Well, technically both of us were completely wasted, but she was the one who had to be in an official portrait that night.”

Gilbert was doubtful, “I’ve heard the mayor is extremely strict, I’m surprised she let you keep hanging out together if that’s the case.”

“Oh, she didn’t,” Marilla chimed in, “It wasn’t until months later, after the county fair that year, that Anne gained favor with Miss Eliza again. Minnie May choked on a chestnut at the fair and Anne was the one who performed the Heimlich maneuver.”

Gilbert’s jaw dropped slightly and Anne rolled her eyes. “You make it sound so miraculous Marilla. The Heimlich maneuver is fairly rudimentary first aid. Anyone could have done that.”

“But no one else did,” it was obvious that Marilla was still angry no one else tried to help, “There were dozens of adults around who could have and should have done something, but only you stepped up.”

“Well then it should be a mark against their character instead of in favor of mine. What kind of person stands idly by while a child is choking? It is basic human decency we are talking about here.”

“While I can’t say I’m too surprised, thirteen is young for knowing how to properly administer the Heimlich; how did you know what to do?” Sebastian asked.

“I was actually fourteen by the time the fair rolled around. The information was in a pamphlet at my social worker’s office. I like to read and sometimes I had to wait a while for my appointments. Because of that, I developed quite the breadth of knowledge encompassing alternative education options, a variety of basic medical and first aid procedures, mental health in children and adolescents and how to identify and treat a variety of sexually transmitted infections, among other things.”

And there was Anne’s lack of filter that kept things interesting.

Gilbert coughed. Matthew was a quiet man, but he started chuckling at Anne’s conversational faux pas. Whenever they had guests, Matthew liked to time how long it was before Anne put her foot in it. She made it till the end of dinner this time- he was proud of her, but he would always be thankful for her little blunders that provided him with so much entertainment and helped make Anne so uniquely herself.

“Anne!” Marilla chided.

She looked truly surprised at the scolding, completely unaware that she had done anything wrong, “What? What did I do now?”

“Must you speak of such things at the table? You just met this boy and this man is your teacher!”

“Gilbert has taken the same health classes I have and Mr. Lacroix teaches biology. There is nothing I can say that they do not already know.”

“That doesn’t mean they want to discuss it while eating dinner!”

She looked around, “Technically no one is eating anymore; we are just sitting and talking.”

“Anne, please don’t argue on technicalities, you know what I mean.”

Gilbert found himself silently wishing she would keep arguing, curious what she would say next.

“Sorry, Marilla. Speaking of which, I can clean up, if everyone is indeed finished?”

“Thank you, Anne,” Marilla said.

“Would you like some help?” Gilbert offered.

“You do not have to; I can do it on my own. Anyways, you are a guest; you should not have to clean up.”

“I know you can do it on your own; you’re not an invalid,” he said with his eyebrows furrowed, “And I know I don’t have to, I’d just like to help, if I may.”

For the first time all night, Anne was hesitant, “Alright…”

The adults retreated to the living room. As soon as they left Anne asked, “Really, why did you offer to help me?”

“I wanted to keep talking to you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re interesting and I want to know more about you?”

It was a while before she answered. “Please excuse my reticence, but that is not something I often hear. Most people say I talk too much and too freely.”

“Well I’m not lying to you, but I’ll admit my reasons are selfish. You do talk a lot, but you are a fantastic story teller. I haven’t smiled this much since graduation, and really, I just miss being happy.”

She smiled at him, refreshed by his honesty, “Okay. Alright. Garbage is over there, clear the table while I wash the pots, then I will fill the dishwasher.”

“Yes ma’am,” he winced.

“Did you just ma’am me?”

“Ah, yes, yes I did apparently. Sorry.”

“No worries,” Anne shook her head and laughed, filling the sink with water and bubbles, “I kind of liked it.”

After a few moments of silence Anne said, “I am sorry about your father, truly. It was a lovely service though, about as good as could be considering how sucky it all is.” She paused in reflection for a minute before saying softly, “It absolutely sucks being alone.”

“Yes, it does.”

“And people are going to tell you that you are not alone, but at the end of the day, everyone goes home to their families and you are still… alone.”

He leaned against the counter, having finished clearing the table, and crossed his arms across his chest, a bit put-off. He wanted to stay to talk to her in hopes of being cheered up, but instead he was being reminded that he was alone in the world. “Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

“No, of course not, my apologies, I know that is not what you want to hear right now. I am simply trying to let you know that I understand. And that you should listen to them. The people who tell you that you are not alone? You should believe them. Use them. Keep them close. They will be there for you relentlessly until you push them away too many times.”

Gilbert relaxed at her explanation, “Bash said you are an orphan too. You lost your parents young, yeah?”

“I was three months old. I never knew them. Be grateful that you got the time with your dad that you did. I grew up in a variety of crappy foster homes before finally landing in Avonlea.”

“I am grateful, but it doesn’t make it easier and it certainly doesn’t feel like enough. He was all I had left. My mom died giving birth to me. I had a couple older sisters, but they died when I was a baby- some genetic disease no one could do anything to help.”

Anne paused washing the dishes and stared at him for a moment, like she was trying to figure him out. “Most people are not so quick to open up about their tragic histories or the truth about anything really.”

“You are.”

“Fair point. That is because people expect me to have some complicated, sordid past, full of scandal and lurid details. I figure it is best to be out with the truth rather than deal with rumors and speculation. What is your excuse?”

“Is nothing left to lose a good excuse? I spent years trying to be as perfect as possible for my dad to atone for all he had been through and I still wasn’t able to keep him. I’m out. I have no more energy left for pretending to be anything other than what I am, but somehow at the same time I don’t actually know what that is because everything I’ve become up to this point was for my dad.”

“Wow.”

“What? Not what you were expecting?”

“I did not know what to expect, but no, I guess I did not expect that.”

They continued cleaning while Anne told him various things about herself, from how she had a writing club that used the old broken down shed in the woods as a meeting place (which solved the mystery of the fresh flowers that started adorning the shack a few years back) to how she had helped slow down a small house fire in town that she came upon while walking home one day.

Sebastian and the Cuthberts suddenly walked into the room, “Hey Blythe, you ready to go?” This was the first time ever that Gilbert did not welcome Bash’s company.

“Uh, no, no I’m not,” he said, staring at Anne.

“Too bad, we were invited for dinner, not the weekend.”

“Just give me a minute,” Gilbert said, waiting for Sebastian to leave so he could have some privacy. Realizing Bash wasn’t going anywhere, he said, “Dude, seriously, give me a minute.”

“Fine, I’ll be outside. Thank you for dinner, Cuthberts, I had a fantastic evening with you all.”

“Good evening, Sebastian, we’ll do this again, yes?” Marilla asked.

“Sounds wonderful. Gilbert, you have one minute.”

Marilla and Matthew went back to the living room with their evening tea.

Gilbert wasted no time, “Anne, could I see you tomorrow?”

“Why?” It was a genuine question, voiced with genuine shock.

He laughed, “Didn’t we just go over this? You make me smile and if I stay at home I’ll just eat pizza all day long.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s delicious and I have very little self-control.”

She laughed, “I’ve never met anyone who is as eager as you are to just listen to what I have to say.”

“And I’ve never met anyone who would swim across a lake to save a turtle and arrive late to dinner covered with leeches like it happens every day. Forgive me for being intrigued. If you can name one other person at our school who would do the same, I’ll go bother them and leave you alone.”

She paused to think. “In the interest of full disclosure, that is the only turtle I have ever saved. Admittedly, the leech thing happens more often than I care to confess. I still do not quite understand what you gain from my company though.”

“Besides the possibility of temporary happiness? Well, I really would like to get to know you better and generally conversation is the best way to do that. I can ask you questions, you can answer them, if you’d like, you can ask me questions and I can answer them. If you need to, you can treat the whole thing as a public service- you would be helping to feed an insatiable curiosity.”

She laughed at that, happy to hear that she had peers that spoke like she did.

“Look, Anne, I expect our conversation can be mutually beneficial. Based on what I’ve heard today, Bash is right, you are far more intelligent than I am. If I’m bored talking to most of our classmates I can’t even imagine how you feel having to listen and interact with people who not only watch, but are genuinely invested in what is happening on reality TV.”

“I feel…” she paused trying to put everything she felt as concisely as possible, “not only like I don’t fit in, but like there isn’t a place for me.”

“I know. I feel the same way.”

“Really Golden Boy?” she scoffed, “ **You** feel like you don’t fit in?”

“Really Carrots?” he countered, “ **You’re** going to tell me how I feel?”

His cheek was stinging before he realized what had happened.

“Son of a bitch! What the fuck Anne?”

Her hands flew to her mouth, surprised at her action, the palm of her hand stinging from the contact with his face, “Shit! I am so sorry! It was a reflex!”

“Ow! Mother fucking shit you’re strong!” he said rubbing his cheek.

“Sorry! I used to get teased about my hair a lot and I guess that just triggered a reaction. I did not even realized I slapped you until after it happened, if it helps, your face is hard as hell, I feel like I smacked a boulder,” she shook her hand out, “Wait, why am I apologizing? Why are you making fun of me?”

“I’m not making fun of you! You’ve been calling me Golden Boy all night so I thought I would respond in kind and that’s the first thing I could think of!”

Bash interrupted, “Blythe! Let’s go!” while Marilla simultaneously said, “Anne! Your phone is going crazy, please deal with it.”

“I’m busy!” Anne and Gilbert shouted in unison.

“ **Everyone** calls you Golden Boy!”

“No they don’t!”

“Well, apparently we only call you Golden Boy behind your back. Lesson learned,” she muttered.

“Well, that’s just great, really rounding out a banner year here,” he reflected as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

“And the proper way to say that is ‘that is the first thing of which you could think,’” she said haughtily.

“Are you seriously correcting my grammar right now?”

“Syntax is important!”

“I agree, but times have changed, Anne. It is perfectly acceptable now to end a sentence in a preposition, it is simply less formal. I’m not writing a research paper here, I’m simply trying to talk to you! Not that you would agree with me Miss Refuses To Use Contractions To Sound Classier Than She Is.”

She was momentarily silenced at his remark. She looked at him with questioning eyes before continuing quietly, “No one else has ever noticed that before, or if they have they never mentioned anything. Your conclusion as to why I do it could not be more wrong though. Contractions are abominations. They shorten and cheapen the power of their parts in an effort to speed speech up, diminishing their meaning and poeticism.”

“Wow,” he said unimpressed, “Did you rehearse that explanation just in case you ever needed to provide it?”

“One does not need to rehearse that which one believes to be true.”

“Yeah… I think you rehearsed it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying, your reason sounds rehearsed, that doesn’t make it untrue, but you don’t need to lie to me. Just admit that it’s rehearsed.”

“And for what reason do I need to prove myself to you?”

“For honesty in the start of a new friendship?”

“Is that what you think this is?”

“For now.”

“What the hell do you mean for now?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just admit that you rehearsed your reason.”

“I have not so much rehearsed it as thought about it a considerable amount.”

“I accept.”

“I do not care if you accept it or not. It is what it is regardless of your acceptance.”

“Gilbert!” Sebastian yelled.

“Anne!” Marilla called.

“Just a minute!” they again called in unison.

 _What is this, the fricking twilight zone? Time to regroup,_ he thought, _calm the hell down_. “So. People used to tease you about your hair, what of it? You’ve led me to believe that you don’t much care what people think about you. What do **you** think about your hair?”

No one had ever asked her that before and nearly as few had ever stuck around after she exploded at them like she just did at Gilbert. “I generally do not care what random people think about me. The slap was truly just a reflex, no idea why I reacted so strongly, that has not happened in a very long time. As far as my hair goes, I think it suits me. Only .17% of people in the world have red hair and blue eyes. I am unique in many ways, and I made a decision to embrace it.”

“Good call. For the record, I think your hair is beautiful. But even if I didn’t I would never make fun of you or anyone for something as arbitrary as your looks. On the counter point I don’t think I would ever praise anyone too voraciously for being beautiful either. You hardly had any control over the situation when you won the genetic lottery, it has nothing to do with who you are as a person, so putting too much weight behind it whether in favor or against is just superficial, don’t you agree? But let’s pretend for a minute that I am an ass and I actually was making fun of you, why would you care? You said yourself you don’t care what random people think about you,” he smirked, knowing he was about to win whatever verbal war they were currently taking part in. “But someone you have something in common with, someone you actually relate to, someone you might consider a friend? I expect their opinion might be worth something to you.”

 _Perceptive, arrogant, stealthily complimenting, son of a bitch,_ she thought. “You are absolutely infuriating.”

“Or I’m the first person you’ve met who actually challenges you.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because you are the first person I’ve ever met who challenges me.”

“And challenging is a good thing?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Gilbert Blythe, spending more time with you could be a spectacularly bad idea.”

“Or?”

“Or what?”

“Or it could be a lot of fun,” he smiled and spoke quietly.

She thought about it for a minute and it looked like she was really struggling with the decision. Taking a deep breath she said, “I’m going to clean up the litter around the lake tomorrow morning. You can join me if you’d like. Nine o’clock.”

“Nine? In the morning?”

“Did I stutter?” she asked sharply.

“No, ma’am,” he smiled at her with a legitimate and vexing twinkle in his eye. Her mouth opened with intent to produce a witty retort, but she couldn’t find the words.

“Anne with an E, it was a true pleasure to meet you. I’ll see you tomorrow. At nine in the morning apparently, though I’m pretty sure the litter would still be there at eleven.”

*

As soon as the door shut behind them, Sebastian was quick to quietly point out his victory, aware that all the windows in Green Gables were open. “So you do like her then. I win!”

“Bash… I’m going to marry that girl,” Gilbert responded lowly.

“Shit dude, you’re 18 and heading off to Europe. Don’t be talking crazy like that or I won’t be able to let you go. Crazy doesn’t do well at airport security.”

“I’m not crazy. Why didn’t you tell me about her before?”

“Dude, our relationship is already borderline inappropriate considering I was your teacher. I can’t go around fixing up my students, that’s disgusting.”

Suddenly they heard Marilla yell from inside, “Anne! Roy has been calling you for twenty minutes now! Please answer your phone and tell your boyfriend to calm down.” They heard Anne yell a reply, but couldn't make out what she said. Whatever it was, she was frustrated.

“Hey you know that song, Into the Unknown? I got a new version for you; I think you’re going to like it. It’s called, “Into the Friend Zone.” He danced and sang for a bit while Gilbert just walked the path with his hands in his pockets and that funny look Sebastian referred to earlier on his face. Sebastian looked at Gilbert with his eyebrows raised, “Well, you heard her, Anne has a boyfriend.”

“I'm not in the friend zone and I don’t really care that she has a boyfriend. It may take some time, but I stand by what I said. She’s smart- she’ll figure out that he isn’t the one for her.”

“Wow, you really are an arrogant little bastard, aren’t you?”

“I’m okay with it.”

“By the way, you asked for a minute, that was the longest minute of my whole damn life Blythe.”

“Well, we got into a fight, of sorts.”

“I heard- did she really hit you?”

“Yeah, she did,” he said and he couldn’t hide his smile, “Really hard. Hurt like hell. Still does.”

“It’s not my place to judge what you’re attracted too, but I never figured you for a masochist.”

“I don’t like her because she hit me you tool. I like her because she is the most passionate, intelligent and confident person I have ever met.”

“And pretty too, eh?”

“It’s not just that’s she’s pretty, she’s so fucking beautiful that I want to rip my eyes out for being so hypocritical in claiming that I see no need to be complimentary about such a superficial quality. It literally hurts to think about how pretty she is.”

“Calm down, Blythe.”

“Look, you may think I’m naïve to claim that I want to marry her after meeting her once and only being eighteen, but talking with Anne for two hours was like seeing in color and 3D for the first time. In comparison, every other girl is in grayscale and two dimensional.”

“Good Lord you sound like such an old man sometimes.”

“Alright, how’s this? Mary told me you proposed to her in a dumpster in a puddle of your own sick after only knowing her two weeks. Claim the high road all you want, you poser, but we all know you have no room to judge.”

“Yeah, but I was nineteen when that happened.”

“You’re right,” he said sarcastically, “that’s completely different.”

*

(Anne’s phone)

Anne: Hey babe, what do you know about Gilbert Blythe besides that Ruby is going to marry him?

Diana: Not much. Seems to be good at everything he does. Good guy, good reputation- parent approved. Super smart.

Diana: Extremely kind, does habitat for humanity, volunteers at the food shelf, and no one loves him more than Delphine Lacroix.

Diana: I heard he babysits her every week and they watch Frozen II and sing all the songs together- isn’t that the most adorable thing you’ve ever heard? And did you see how she hugged him at the funeral? I started crying because of that girl. She straight up offered to share Bash with Gilbert so he would have a dad.

Diana: Also, hot as hell, but I’m sure you can see that for yourself. I know Ruby has dibs, but next time I see him with his shirt off, all bets are off and I will not be held responsible for my actions.

Anne: Diana!

Diana: Please, have you seen him? And Ruby’s dibs is hardly legit. Half the school has called dibs on him.

Anne: … he just left my house.

Diana: WTF Anne.

Anne: Marilla invited him over for dinner- some promise she made his dad? I’m not real sure what that is about. Mr. Lacroix came too; I guess he is kind of looking out for him now so maybe he took Delphine up on that dad thing.

Diana: What did you think?

Anne: I think he is lost, this loss has caused him to struggle way more than he lets on.

Diana: But he told you that?

Anne: Yeah. Said he was glad to meet me and that I was the first person he had ever met who challenges him. Is that good?

Diana: Hell yeah it’s good.

Diana: You’ve been typing for three minutes… what aren’t you telling me?

Anne: I slapped him… really REALLY hard. Guy just buried his father and I fucking slapped him across the face.

Diana: I’m not even going to ask why. WTF were you thinking?

Anne: I was not thinking! We were talking and then he called me Carrots and it was over before I knew what happened.

Diana: You’ve GOT to let go of the Carrots crap. Get over it!

Anne: Generally I do not care! I have no idea what happened!

Diana: So what happened after that?

Anne: He had asked if he could see me again so I agreed that he could help me pick up litter around the lake tomorrow. I am such a nerd.

Diana: So is he. What else did you think about him?

Anne: Seemed nice, good conversationalist, good sense of humor. Seemed really, really intelligent. He was ranting about how he wasn’t making fun of my hair and said that he does not place much value in appearances whether positive or negative. Said that “winning the genetic lottery has nothing to do with who I am as a person so it would be superficial to dwell on it” or something like that. 

Diana: Awww he thinks you’re pretty! Nerdy ass way to say it, but the sentiment is there. What else did you think about him?

Anne: You are not going to let me go to sleep until I say it, are you?

Diana: You know me so well. So???

Anne: Hot as hell, Diana. Hot. As. Hell. You happy?

Diana: Exceedingly. Enjoy picking up trash tomorrow with the most attractive person we know in real life. Let me know how it goes.

Anne: Goodnight, my love.

Diana: Goodnight, beautiful. Please don’t hit him again.

Anne: I WILL NOT HIT HIM AGAIN.

Anne: I will try really, really hard not to. I really think I can do it.

Anne: God, I am a disaster.


	3. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne and Gilbert pick up trash and talk a bit. And yell a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy mother forking shirtballs this is a fricking marathon of dialog. I'll probably go back tonight and make sure everything works, but I needed to get this chunk posted. Sorry it took so long, but all you who requested another chapter can now rejoice because I absolutely could not get everything done properly in this one. 
> 
> I really hope you all like this, there isn't as much humor as I was intending, but they are both going through some stuff, so maybe that makes it okay.
> 
> Let me know what you think!

The next day Gilbert arrived at the lake between his house and Green Gables at 8:55 wearing chucks, navy track pants and a plain white t-shirt. He sat on the gate to the small boat launch and waited for Anne who arrived two minutes later wearing chucks, navy track pants and a plain white t-shirt. They looked each other up and down before shaking their heads and simultaneously deciding not to talk about it. The only difference between them was that Gilbert wore a baseball cap over his long, messy curls and Anne wore an oversized floppy straw hat over her two messy braids.

“Nice hat,” he said, “Is it big enough?”

“Protecting this skin is no joke. It takes effort to stay this white. I so much as think of the sun and my face looks like a fricking firework.”

“What?”

“Freckles, Blythe. Freckles everywhere. Here is a garbage bag, and some gloves,” she said reaching into her bag to get the supplies for him, “I figure we start here, work our way around the lake clockwise and see how far we can get by lunch,” she smiled brightly at him. “It doesn’t look too bad, so it should go pretty quickly.”

“Why clockwise?”

She looked at him like he just suggested they spend the morning torturing baby animals. “Would you seriously suggest counter-clockwise? What kind of monster are you?”

He laughed, “No monster, just curious," he said as he hopped of the gate.

“Hold on,” she raised her hand to his face, resting his chin on her forefinger and her thumb on his chin dimple, gently lifting his cheek to the light so she could see him clearlly.

“Admiring your handiwork?”

“Please, there is no indication of any harm done. Hold on, I need to tell Diana I didn’t maim you.”

Anne: Gilbert’s face is fine. No damage done.

“You can rest easy knowing I did nothing to compromise your perfect face,” she added.

Anne’s phone beeped.

Diana: Hell yeah it is! Finest face in town! Get it!

She quickly put the phone back in her bag.

“Diana says ‘hi.’”

“Hi, Diana. Anyway, it may not look bad, but it still hurts, and I certainly did not rest easy.” His mind was reeling all night because of her. He would think of her, which made him smile, which hurt like a bitch, and then he would think of her again because she was the one who made smiling hurt like a bitch. It was a vicious cycle. “Just smiling is incredibly painful.”

“So what do you want me to do about it? Kiss it and make it better?” she asked only half joking. _What am I doing?_

 _Yeah, there’s no good answer to that._ He ignored her question, “Seriously, I couldn’t sleep on that side last night. Had to rearrange my whole set up on my couch. You threw off my groove.”

“Maybe sleep in your bed. Wait, are you telling me you have a sleeping groove?”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound great does it?” he laughed. “Okay, so the TV is by the couch, I don’t have one in my room, that’s why I’m sleeping there. I had it all set up just perfectly with my supplies on the end table and coffee table. Everything was in the perfect spot where I need it to be- where my hand naturally goes to retrieve them. My book, water, tissues, garbage, journal, my mug for my evening tea, coaster for whatever other beverage I need, remotes and the spot for my glasses.”

She closed her eyes and took a breath. _Shit._ “You wear glasses?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, I wear contacts during the day. I don’t like them very much but I went through like, 30 pairs of glasses by the time I was 14 and my dad got sick of paying for them. I prefer glasses though and I’ll probably go back to them now that I have some money and I’m done with hockey.”

“Also that whole set up really makes you sound like some anal retentive nerd.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that I applaud your organization and I know exactly how you feel. Sorry, please continue explaining how I ‘threw off your groove.’”

“Well, I had it set up so that I fall asleep on my left side; that way my right hand is free to reach whatever I need. You, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, smacked me upside the head so hard that this position was no longer an option, prompting the need to switch everything to be the other way 'round. To make matters worse, my left hand is worthless, so after painstakingly setting everything up, I lay down on the couch, reached for my book and spilled my water all over it.”

She laughed, “So sorry to have thrown off your groove Gilbert Blythe, but I think you’ll recover.”

“Yeah, but will Lizzie and Mr. Darcy?” he said dramatically.

 _Deep breaths, Anne._ “You’re reading Pride and Prejudice?” she squeaked.

“Yes I am. I asked my dad to tell me some things about my mom before he died; he said it was her favorite book. Thought I’d give it a go. I’ll check it out later to see if it’s salvageable.”

“If not, let me know, you can borrow mine.”

“You have it?”

“Do I have a copy of the most amazing love story of all time? Of course I do.”

They were about an eighth of the way around the lake when Anne finally asked, “Seriously, what are you doing here? Why do you want to talk to me?”

“Because you’re… real? Does that even make sense?”

“No, no it does not. Everyone is real.”

“Alright, so look, I know I’m popular, but honestly I don’t have a lot of friends. Not good friends anyway. Charlie and Moody are awesome, but since my dad died, they don’t really know how to talk to me or be around me. We’ve been floating somewhere between ignoring what happened and a complete pity party. In just a couple hours yesterday, you somehow acknowledged my loss, validated my pain and provided some solidarity without making me feel pitied. You’re like a conversational wizard. I was impressed. Also, my experience speaking successfully with girls is nearly non-existent. It seems they are either afraid to talk to me or too damn flirty and complimentary to be considered genuine. I know that can’t be true across the board, but that has been my experience. I obviously don’t know you well, but you seem to just be… you. You’re authentic. You clearly aren’t afraid of me, you aren’t offering me praise I have done nothing to deserve and as far as I can tell you aren’t trying to flirt with me. It’s nice just to talk to someone who is real, who is honest and just treats me like a normal person.”

Anne was surprised. “Are you saying that you do not like receiving compliments or being the object of desire for like 60% of our school? Is it not wonderful to be so adored?”

“Did you seriously just ask me if I enjoy being an object? Because that’s exactly what it feels like and the answer is no. I like receiving genuine compliments, of course, but when people call me the best hockey player at our school, they are either dumb or just not paying attention. And if someone were to desire me who actually knows me as a person, that’s great. But otherwise, it’s hardly something to be proud of. Sorry-” he caught her eye and smirked, “it’s hardly something of which to be proud.”

“Very funny,” she scoffed, biting back a smile. “I will need to tell Ruby to step up her game then and actually try talking to you; she is planning on marrying you in five years.”

“Well, that’s news to me.”

“Ruby Gillis, do you know her?”

“Can’t say that I do.”

“I assumed as much. The wedding is going to be beautiful by the way, though with a bride like Ruby, what would you expect?”

“Is she pretty, this Ruby Gillis?” he asked, completely uninterested in the answer.

“She is stunning, though from your comments yesterday and your tone of voice now, I get the feeling that information is irrelevant.”

“Look, I understand having a crush on someone and finding someone attractive, I do, but planning a wedding with someone you don’t even know? Even if it is just for fun, isn’t that level of commitment a bit pathetic?” The irony that he decided to marry Anne about 30 minutes after meeting her was not lost on him.

“You could see it as flattery. It is like she has a celebrity crush and you are that celebrity!”

“Yeah, I don’t see it that way, at all. She doesn’t actually know who I am. I assume only that she finds me attractive and knows that I’m captain of the hockey team; since I’m not a very good player, all I can infer from the information provided is that she is attracted to status. If that’s the case, feel free to tell your friend that I’m not her type.”

“You were valedictorian, yes? So she knows you are smart as well, is that not something?”

“Not enough. When the right person comes along, whenever that may be, I’d like them to like me for who I am, my personality and what drives me, not what I look like or what I can do for them,” he paused, “I’d like to think that’s what truly matters.”

“Then you better figure out what drives you.”

“Trust me, I know I have some work to do.”

There was a brief silence while Gilbert concentrated on reaching out into the water to collect a cup. They were walking around the lake at a decent pace. When one of them would find some garbage, they would go pick it up and then return to the worn path so they were again walking side by side.

“So who is your celebrity crush then?” he asked, trying to get the focus off him and his issues.

She laughed, “If you expect me to say you, I would advise against holding your breath.”

He laughed, “I’m not the arrogant prick that people think I am. While the analogy worked for our discussion, I’m quite aware that I am not a celebrity.”

“I do not idolize people for being famous or popular or good looking. If I had a celebrity crush, which I do not, it would be for his intellect, or beliefs; his willingness to make the world a better place. He’d probably be a journalist or reporter, seeking the truth and fairness for all.”

“So… Walter Cronkite?” he teased.

“See? I knew it! My dream guy is out there… he is 90 and, well, dead, but he is out there…” she paused. They had both walked down closer to the lake and were cleaning out near some reeds when Anne whisper yelled, “Gilbert!” and swatted his arm while pointing into the grass a few feet ahead of them, “Look! That’s the same turtle I helped yesterday! I know because he has that scar on his shell on the left side. What a spectacular creature! Have you ever seen a turtle with such kind eyes?”

His eyes widened. “Get over here,” Gilbert took her hand and pulled her to her feet and away from the turtle. “Anne, how much do you know about turtles? I expect not much since you didn’t grow up around here.”

“Just your standard encyclopedia entry information, why do you ask?”

“Anne, that’s not just your garden-variety turtle, it’s a snapping turtle. You swam up to it and removed a bag from where?”

“His neck.”

“You’re lucky you still have all your fingers.” Realizing he was still holding her hand, he squeezed it before letting go.

Anne had the decency to go a bit pale at the realization.

“Look, obviously the turtle didn’t feel threatened by you or it would have done something, but maybe next time do some research before approaching random wildlife.”

She cleared her throat, “Yes, that is a good point. Thank you, Gilbert.” She thought for a minute about what they were discussing before. “So you **are** aware that people think you’re arrogant?”

Gilbert laughed, “Yeah, and it probably makes me more arrogant to admit that I don’t care what they think. I’ve worked hard for my achievements, I don’t boast about them, but I’m not going to feel bad about them either. I never tried to be popular, I tried to be kind and apparently it worked for me. I didn’t try to be the captain of the team, I tried to be a leader and helpful to my teammates and I earned it. And I’m not especially vain; I get up in the morning, shower and go to school. I’m not trying to look a certain way to impress anyone.”

“You idiot,” she said, laughing, “None of that is why people think you are arrogant- not the girls anyway, though I appreciate the thought that you have given it. They think that you think you are too good to date anyone in Avonlea- like you are holding out for something better.”

This made him laugh loudly, “Funny.” He paused and looked at her, “Wait, you’re serious? That’s what they think?” He thought about it for a bit. “I would never say I’m too good for anyone, that’s not a thing I think is possible. But it’s like I was saying before; I’m not going to date someone just because they stare at me and bat their eyelashes. If anyone would show an actual interest in getting to know me, and we could have a conversation about something real, I would probably consider asking that person out or saying yes to someone who asks me out. Until I find someone I can actually talk to, I don’t mind being single.”

“So that’s why you’ve never said yes to any of their invitations? I thought you might just not be interested in women.”

“Nope, it’s the first one,” Gilbert explained. 

Anne was surprised by his casual answer. “You are not offended that I thought you might be gay? Most of your teammates would have thrown a fit. Billy actually did throw a fit on this exact topic the other day. Jane said they were just joking around and he nearly punched a hole in the wall.”

“Of course I’m not offended. Being called gay isn’t an insult; it just isn’t the case here. It was as valid as any other assumption you could have made with the information you had. Though, now I think you’re a bit of a liar because you told me you don’t make assumptions from afar and you just did. And never compare me to Billy Andrews. He’s an ass and now that I’m done with school I don’t want to speak of or see him ever again.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be friends with all your teammates?”

“No, I’m supposed to help manage my teammates. I would never be friends with a person who drugs his girlfriend and tries to take advantage of her. I detest Josie but no one deserves that shit.”

Anne agreed. Josie made sure to do everything in her part to let Anne know that she was and always would be an outsider, but Billy’s actions after prom were unforgiveable. “I was not assuming. I was speculating.”

Anne’s phone rang; she looked at it, groaned and silenced it before putting it away. A couple minutes later it rang again. Silenced. And again. Silenced.

“Do I dare ask?” Gilbert asked.

“Roy keeps calling me and I do not want to talk to him.”

“Roy Gardner?”

“Yeah. You know him?” she asked, hardly interested.

“Yeah, I actually like him a lot- he’s a really good guy. We were lab partners a few times,” he started laughing really hard, “He did the funniest thing when we were dissecting our frog. He took out the eyeballs and-”

“I do not want to hear it Gilbert.”

He was still laughing, “I’m sorry, it was just so funny.” After a minute, the memory faded and he said, “I heard Marilla calling out to you as we left last night. Why don’t you want to talk to your boyfriend, Anne?”

“Marilla was misinformed. He is not my boyfriend. Not anymore. We were friends for a long time and together for barely a second a couple months ago and have not spoken since.”

“Yet he still calls you incessantly?”

“Yes.”

“So I assume you broke up with him and he disagrees?”

“I wish.”

“Can you explain the situation to me or should I just keep guessing?”

“Why should I?”

“Because you are obviously upset about whatever happened and it will help to talk about it. You know that’s how it works. And don’t say that it doesn’t matter- If the relationship didn’t matter to you, you would be over it by now and you wouldn’t be angrily throwing your phone in your bag and on the verge of tears. What happened?”

“Well, to make a long story short and incredibly embarrassing, I tried to kiss him and he broke up with me. Happy?”

“Of course I’m not happy. Why would your blatant misery make me happy?”

“Sorry.”

“Anne, just explain the situation, I really only want to help you. I promise.”

She took a deep breath. “We were at prom. I thought we were having an amazing night and I was so happy to be there with him, so I leaned in to kiss him and he said, ‘I don’t think this is a good idea. I’m sorry, Anne,’ and he fucking left me alone at the fucking prom.”

Gilbert suddenly had a revelation. He could not believe that he didn’t put it together sooner. He had noticed her that night. He had **definitely** noticed her that night.

“Am I that abhorrent that simply the idea of kissing me caused him to leave the fucking dance?”

“That can’t be it.” _God,_ _Winnie hit me so hard for looking at her. No, not looking, staring, with my mouth agape like a fucking idiot._

“So, then I guess guys do not like when a girl initiates a kiss? Was I too forward?”

He laughed, “Uh, no, I promise you that isn’t it either.”

“So then it would have to be that somehow, I got it wrong before it even happened! Tell me Gilbert Blythe, certainly you know this, is it possible to lean in wrong? To be honest, I did not know what I was doing. But that was going to be my first kiss and everything felt so perfect. You know when everything just seems so right, like the stars aligned and everything is as it should be.”

“Honestly, I can’t offer you any advice regarding leaning in to kiss someone, but I can certainly imagine feeling like that.”

She thinks she just heard Gilbert admit that he has never kissed anyone and for some reason she found comfort in the fact that even Gilbert Blythe was not immune to rumors being spread about him, though those rumors were hardly derogatory. She would need to come back to that later. “Even with my history and my spectacular knack for fucking everything up, not even I could imagine screwing it up that badly before our lips even touched.”

 _God, this is excruciating._ He suggested, “Maybe answer your damn phone and ask him, he clearly wants to talk to you. Figure out what happened so you can either work together to fix what went wrong, or at the very least get some closure so you can move on.”

“Now?”

“Do what you want- I’m not your keeper.”

She pulled out her phone.

Anne: I’m ready to listen to you.

Roy: Text? Really?

Anne: That is all I can handle.

Roy: This is going to take a while. You might just want to come back to your phone in a half hour or so.

Anne: K.

“He said it’s going to take a while to explain, we should just keep going, I will look when we are done.”

“See, was that really so hard?”

“Yeah, the initiating of the conversation is the part I was really nervous about,” she said sarcastically. “God, I am going to have to read in explicit detail everything that he hates about me. Thanks for that.”

“Anne! Shut up! He’s a good guy! Just wait to see what he has to say before assuming the worst about him! You said you were his friend, don’t you think you can at least hear him out? If you did something wrong do you think he would fervently try for two months to get ahold of you? No! He’d say ‘screw it’ and move on! Just listen before you beat yourself up. I don’t see how anything you did could have possibly put him off.”

“How could you know that? You barely know me.”

“Anne? Did you see you at prom?”

Anne was confused, “Did **you** see me at prom?”

“Anne, **everyone** saw you at prom. I didn’t know who you were, but I definitely saw you.”

“God and here I actually thought I looked good that day, for the first time in my life and you are now telling me I was some sort of spectacle?”

“Damn it Anne, tell me how on earth you arrived at that conclusion,” he groaned. “How the hell did you get there?”

“You essentially said that everyone was staring at me? How am I supposed to interpret that?”

“In a way that doesn’t make you sound like a crazy person! Anne! This is high school and people are mean, if you looked bad I’m sure some ass hat would have said something just to make sure you knew it. But I expect that no one said anything regarding the matter, in fact I guarantee you that not one person, not even Josie, the bitchiest of them all, said anything mean to you that night.”

“No, no one said anything. But besides my friends, the girls were not especially kind that night with their actions. They kept bumping into me.”

“That’s because all their dates and boyfriends were looking at you!” he had dropped his bag and was gesticulating wildly with his hands, “You looked like, gah, I can’t even put into words what you looked like that night. I thought I had imagined you. I swear to God, you were glowing. I thought I was looking at a princess in a fucking fairy tale. It was like I got knocked out and woke up in one of Delphine’s books.” _And then Winnie hit me and ruined it all._

“What?” she asked breathlessly.

“Please don’t make me say it again,” he said, picking up his bag and continuing around the lake. “I feel like a hypocritical idiot.”

They walked on in silence for a bit and were about three quarters of the way around the lake when Anne made an attempt to change the subject, “Where are you going to school next year?”

“I’m not. I’m taking the year off. Going to Europe, Taiwan and New Zealand. Maybe by the time I get back I’ll have figured out who I am and what I want to do with my life.”

“You really have no idea?”

“No. Do you?”

“I want to be a teacher and a writer.”

“How did you figure it out?”

“I thought about what I’m good at and what I’m passionate about and figured out a career that aligned with it. What are you good at? What are you passionate about Gilbert Blythe? And look at me when you speak, I need to see your eyes.”

 _You,_ he thought. He knew he had made a decision to speak his mind, but this seemed a bit too forward so he held back. He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “I only know one thing I’m passionate about and I certainly can’t make a career out of it.” 

He stared at her so intently she could see he was telling the truth and didn’t press the matter.

He continued, “I’m really good at trumpet, but I’m not very passionate about it. I’m fairly passionate about hockey, but I’m not good enough to do anything with it.”

“Fairly passionate won’t do anyway. What’s your favorite subject in school?”

“Science. And I also really liked a drawing class I took and I liked when we built those robots in tech sophomore year. That was fun.”

“Do you like to help people?”

Gilbert was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. She was looking at him so attentively that he felt like he was being investigated. “I volunteer to help with habitat and at the food shelf, and yeah, I guess I enjoy it. You gotta stop looking at me like that, I feel like you are prying into my soul.”

“That’s exactly what I am doing, deal with it; I am trying to help you. This will sound funny, but what do you like better, talking to people or solving puzzles?”

He took deep breath and said, “Solving puzzles, solving any sort of problem really. I like to fix things.”

“Can I tell you what I think?”

“Always.”

She started walking and cleaning up again and he fell into step next to her.

“With your love of science and knowing how intelligent you are, you could probably make a decent doctor, but I do not think you have the passion to work with patients on a daily basis. Your eyes lit up when you talked about drawing and those robots, which if I am being honest, I truly believe were sent to destroy by GPA.”

He smiled and winced. The two came as a package deal now.

“In my completely unprofessional opinion, based on the limited amount of information I know about you I would suggest you look into medical research or engineering as a starting point. Maybe even architecture. Seek out some people in those fields and see where it leads you. You like to help people, but I think the way for you to do that is through solving puzzles and problems.”

He thought about it and he didn’t disagree. “Impressive.”

“Am I?”

“You know you are, Anne. Stop pretending you don’t.”

Anne glanced nervously at her phone. Last message was sent eleven minutes ago.

“Well, it looks like he is done. Help me wrap this up and then I can figure out why he hates me.”

“Anne.”

“Please, just help me?”

It took them about 30 minutes to finish up. This stretch included a beach of sorts and because of that contained the most litter. They both worked quickly and quietly, eager to be done with the task and read what Roy had written. When they were done they put their bags and gloves in the dumpster and walked to a nearby hill to rest under an oak tree.

“Do you want me to leave you alone? I don’t want to intrude.”

“Then you should not have told me to talk to him Blythe, you have already intruded, no turning back now. Here, have some water,” she said as she handed him her water bottle. They sat down in the shade and removed their hats. Gilbert squirted some water into his mouth before handing it back to her.

“Thank you, sorry I didn’t think to bring my own.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need more.”

Gilbert checked his phone once before remembering that there wasn’t anyone out there who would be wondering where he was. He lay down, stretching out his legs and crossing them. He bent his arm up behind his head to provide a pillow while his free hand pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hey Gilbert, are you okay?”

“Depends on your definition of okay I guess. I just looked at my phone to check for messages and it reminded me that no one cares where I am right now. I’ll get over it.”

“No you will not.”

“What?” he looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes brimming with tears.

“You will not get over the death of your father, Gilbert. It will get easier with time, the intensity of pain will lessen, but you cannot erase emotional memory. Over time you will learn how to cope with your loss and it will get easier, but you will not get over it. And that is okay. Good even.”

“You’re procrastinating Anne. You’ve had that phone in a death grip for five minutes now. Rip off that band-aid.”

“Feels more like I am about to dive into a pool filled with cement. I do not think I have ever been this nervous.”

“Do you know why I couldn’t stop shaking your hand yesterday? Because of your confidence, Anne. It was hypnotizing. I have never met someone who has held themself like you do. You walked into that room, drenched, covered in leeches and bleeding and you owned it like a queen. It was the same way you presented yourself at prom. You carry yourself like you dare others to challenge you. You’re so strong Anne. I’m pretty sure you’re capable of reading a fucking text message.”

She hesitated and he started chanting softly, “Read it. Read it. Read it.”

She smiled at him and looked at her phone. After a few seconds she said, “I cannot read it. I am too worked up and my eyes are watering. It will have to wait.”

“Want me to read it to you?” he offered.

“Would that be weird?”

He chuckled, “Yeah it’ll probably be super awkward, but will it help you?”

“Yes.” She handed her phone to him as he returned to a sitting position.

He scrolled up. “Shit. Dude’s got a lot to say. Alright, um, okay, here’s the start. ‘Look, Anne, we have been really good friends for so long and I promise I never intended to hurt you. I know I messed up. I’m not trying to get out of anything here. I know this is all on me. I don’t expect to be forgiven but hopefully you will be able to understand why I did what I did. I hope you don’t think so, but if you have even thought for a second over the past couple months that you did anything wrong, just know that you didn’t.’ I told you so, Anne. None of this was your fault.”

“I do not remember requesting commentary, Gilbert.”

“‘I led you on, but please believe that I didn’t do it intentionally. Anne, I love you so much. So so much. I need you to know that. You are the epitome of light and goodness and my life only makes sense because you are in it. I wanted so badly to be attracted to you, but when you leaned in to kiss me, I knew that I couldn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved and I couldn’t steel your first kiss away from you like that. It wasn’t fair. You make me feel so good about myself, all your words of encouragement, believing in me when no one else did, opening your home when I was too afraid to go back to mine, you are a legend Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, I can’t believe you are real and that you have somehow found enough value in me to grant me any of your time.’ Damn, he does love you; he definitely isn’t lying about that.”

“Gilbert.”

“Right, moving on. ‘Seeing you at prom, you were ethereal. You were such a vision I almost cried, it was like you were a painting brought to life. You tend to be somewhat oblivious to your beauty, but I assure you no one else was that night. Girls throughout the room were swatting their dates for their lingering gazes on you, and no, I’m not making this up or exaggerating.’ See? What did I tell you?”

“Gilbert!”

He looked ahead at the next text. “Shit.”

She looked at him nervously. “What? What is it?”’

“This is about to get way more awkward than I thought. Whatever, just ripping off a band-aid, right?” He looked up at her through his hair and smirked. “‘I even saw Charlie and Gilbert watching you. Okay, so Charlie will look at anything that moves, so that’s not a great example, I just know he’s popular so I thought it helped illustrate the point. But Gilbert Fucking Blythe? Anne, he was there with Winnie Rose! I know you don’t pay attention to anything, but she is generally considered to be teen perfection. Winnie and every girl in that room had their eyes on Gilbert Blythe and he had his eyes on YOU. Doesn’t that feel good? Do you believe that you are beautiful yet? Please tell me I’m getting through to you.’”

She stared at Gilbert with her mouth open. He had already admitted as much earlier in the day, but hearing it from someone else, even though it was still out of Gilbert’s mouth, somehow made it more real.

Gilbert kept reading, “‘I felt like I was showing you off, which is ridiculous and I know you’re going to be mad about it, but in my mind I was saying, ‘Yeah, stare all you want, this woman is a fucking goddess and you all are mere mortals beneath her. You fools have no idea the depths to which her goodness reaches and you never will, for if you knew, the knowledge would drive you mad.’ God, I felt so lucky, so honored to be there with you, you have no idea. I realize now that a proper date might have been jealous of the other guys looking at you, but I never was, I was just so happy for you. I was so glad that everyone could finally see what I see every day. I only felt jealous once that evening- when you were dancing with Cole. It was at that moment though that I realized I wasn’t jealous of Cole, I was jealous of you. I always knew it was a possibility, even an eventuality, but I figured it’s a spectrum right? But apparently it isn’t. Not for me anyway. And I hate it. I hate it so much. I hate that I’m convinced that you are the most amazing person I will ever meet, that you deemed me worthy of your affection and that I can’t reciprocate to you in kind.’”

Anne’s head was resting on her arms folded above her knees and Gilbert saw her take a shuddering breath.

“Anne, are you okay? Should I keep going?”

She nodded.

“‘You deserve the world Anne, and while I might’ve enjoyed kissing you, since it is you and you are awesome, I couldn’t take that away from you. I felt I let you down that night in so many ways; the only thing I could think was that you shouldn’t waste your first kiss on me, because I am so not worth it. Go out and find that skinny nerd you’ve been dreaming of. Oh yes, I remember ;). I put it in my phone because I thought it was amazing. I’m going to go pull it up, just a second.’”

“No…”

“‘We went to see a movie last year and there was some bro checking you out so I pointed him out to you and told you to go talk to him. You said, ‘Royal, how dare you think I would be attracted to someone who looks like a Ken doll! Could there BE a more pitiful reminder of the poor standards we subject our youth to?’”

“Gilbert, you might want to stop reading.”

He laughed, “I really don’t. I’ve been thoroughly embarrassed today, I’ve earned this.”

She buried her face in her hands knowing full well what was coming.

“‘‘Keep your broad shoulders and your ridiculously plastered blonde hair. Give me a brooding skinny boy with glasses and untamable mop over that “perfect” shit any day. Add in a book, strong jawline and a love for debate and I am done. I will see you never because I will ride him ‘til I die.’ God, Shirley I almost died when I heard that come out of your perfect, innocent mouth. I had never been more surprised in my life. Here I was under the impression that your intelligence brought you above the realm of such basic desires. Lesson learned. In summary, I love you and you deserve the world but I can’t give it to you, so I did the best I could. Please consider forgiving me someday.’”

“Is that it?”

“No. He says, ‘None of this is fair Anne, if I could change it, I swear to you I would. I love you so much, but apparently, it’s not enough. Why isn’t it enough?’” he finished, reading the last words slowly.

“So I’m the girl who helped one of her best friends figure out that he is gay. That does not feel great.”

“Anne, you are the girl who is so amazing that your best friend wishes he could change who he is at his very core, just so he could try to be the man you deserve. I have never seen such selfless love in real life. This is the stuff of fiction. I know it was a painful experience, but you're lucky to have a friend like him. Not all great love is romantic love.”

He handed her the phone. She took it from him tentatively and began typing as he lay back down and closed his eyes.

Anne: I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you until now.

Anne: I forgive you.

Anne: And thank you.

Roy: Thank you, Anne, and you’re welcome.

She put her phone away and lay down next to Gilbert on the hill.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"No."

"You want me to go?"

"No."

"Can't say I'm sure what to do with myself right now then."

"I want you to lay there and shut your damn mouth while I process what just happened."

"Yes ma'am." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like what I did with Anne and Roy's relationship. I really wanted to have no one be at fault, which was tricky. I feel like making him gay was a bit of a cop out, but that was the only way that made sense where he would love her so much and think that she is so beautiful but have it not be enough to bring them together. I tried to write it where he was straight and he said all the same things, and that there was just a missing piece, but it didn't come off as sincere, not with how ardently he admires her.
> 
> *I went through and tried to get all Anne's contractions out of there. Sorry for the inconsistency!


	4. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne and Gilbert finish up at the lake with a one sided argument and enjoy a magical evening together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super fluffy, ignore the mistakes, enjoy reading and all that good stuff. I hope it was worth the wait!

They lay there like that for a long time. When Anne eventually sat up, it was well after eleven o’clock and she realized Gilbert had fallen asleep. She took the opportunity to look at him without the fear of being caught staring. He really was quite good looking, she assessed, and now that she knew he wore glasses, he really was seemingly perfect. His arms were up behind his head which raised his shirt up just enough to reveal the slightest bit of his stomach, hinting at the extent of his physical fitness. Anne could see why Diana said what she did about all bets being off if he were to remove his shirt.

She hadn’t seen many boys her age sleep, but she found it fascinating. Any sign they were maturing seemed to disappear in sleep, and what she saw before her now was just a beautiful, innocent boy who had endured too much. She could see where his expressive eyebrows, finally at rest, had left small creases between the pair from overuse. Under his eyes was tinged darker than the rest of his tanned skin; he obviously hadn’t been sleeping well, but of course he hadn’t, how could he with what he has been going through? He had some freckles on his cheeks too, a warm caramel color that she found appealing. His lips were the palest shade of pink she had ever seen, almost as if it were an accident in coloring. _Oh my goodness, his lips look so soft,_ she thought and she actually started reaching out to touch them before she came to her senses. _What the hell am I doing?_

She got out her phone and texted Diana.

Anne: Di, he fell asleep. What should I do?

Diana: I would suggest sitting there and watching him sleep.

Anne: I already did that.

Diana: Do it again, it sounds delightful.

Anne: I need to stop. I ended up nearly caressing his lip.

Diana: Maybe try licking it, I’m sure THAT would wake him up.

Anne: Yeah, I bet it would, but I am not going to do that.

Diana: Buzzkill.

Anne: He convinced me to talk to Roy.

Diana: How the fuck did he do that? I’ve been telling you to do that for months! Did you listen to him just because he’s prettier than me?

Anne: Haha no, but he IS pretty. He yelled at me, Diana. Not in a patronizing way, more like in an ‘it hurts me to see you hurt’ way. He looked to actually be in pain at seeing my suffering.

Anne: I will call you when I get home to tell you everything. It has been an interesting morning. Also revealing? Enlightening? I am not sure- it has been so many things. I am going to send you screen shots of what Roy said. Do not tell anyone what you read just in case he is not okay with it, but he knows I share everything with you anyway.

Anne: The message was heavy enough; but imagine it coming out of Gilbert’s mouth because that is what actually happened. I was too scared to read it and I started crying before I had even begun so he offered to read it for me.

(Image)  
(Image)  
(Image)  
(Image)  
(Image)

Diana: …

Anne: I know.

Diana: That is a lot to process.

Anne: Which brings us to why he fell asleep. I was processing.

Diana: How awkward was it to hear Gilbert speak the description of your dream guy and see him realize it fit him perfectly? Except the glasses.

Anne: HE DOES WEAR GLASSES! He mentioned it earlier today. And it was SO awkward. OMG I wanted to disappear. He had the grace not to say anything about it though- just kept reading. Thank God.

Diana: Any kisses?

Anne: No! Are you kidding?

Anne: He kind of implied that he had never kissed anyone before. Could that possibly be true? I have heard information to the contrary.

Diana: So have I. I heard he’s quite experienced… and quite talented… though who knows what’s true anymore. I also heard that I slept with Paul, and even he was quick to point out how ridiculous that idea was.

Anne: I do not know what to do. I like him a lot Diana. I like how he thinks, I appreciate what he values in a person. He is so kind and intelligent and he listens to me and we seem to have a lot in common.

Diana: Like what?

Anne: Well, we showed up in matching clothes for starters. Little bit awkward. Not gonna lie, especially since he looks better in it.

Diana: Ha!

Anne: Di he said that at prom he thought that he had imagined me. He thought he got knocked out and woke up in one of Delphine’s books and I was the princess in a fairy tale. Said he could have sworn I was glowing.

Diana: Damn.

Anne: I almost fell over when he said that.

Diana: Well, he wasn’t wrong. Or lying according to what Roy said.

Anne: He is so truthful. It is so wonderful to be around someone who just speaks their mind honestly, not trying to be who he thinks I expect him to be, he is just him. No pretense. Which is one of the things he said he best liked about me.

Diana: Someone has a crush.

Anne: Ugh. I do not think that is what this is.

Diana: So then what is it?

Anne: Shit I am in trouble. This cannot be right.

Diana: Anne?

Anne: Never mind. Nothing. I will call you later.

Diana: Okay?

*

Anne: Thank you again, Roy. I really mean that. I really am sorry I did not let you speak before, it would have given me peace of mind much sooner. You have been one of my best friends for years, I should have remembered that. I am really sorry.

Roy: You’re welcome and you are forgiven. What made you decided to talk to me?

Anne: Not a what.

Roy: ?

Anne: Gilbert Blythe.

Roy: What?

Anne: Long story. You were right, he was staring at me at prom.

Roy: I KNOW. I just told you that.

Anne: He told me too. Before you even mentioned it. He said you were lab partners a couple times. What do you think about him?

Roy: He’s great. One of the few popular kids that is a decent human being. After graduation I actually saw him help an old lady across the street.

Anne: Ugh.

Roy: and after that Mr. Lacroix’ daughter fell down and Gilbert pulled this tiny first aid kid out of his pocket and cleaned up her knee and sat there singing songs with her until she felt better.

Anne: You are killing me.

Roy: And then he climbed a tree and rescued a blind cat with only three legs!

Anne: LOL shut up, he did not.

Roy: No, he didn’t, but he totally would. What are you up to?

Anne: Gilbert and I spent the morning picking up litter around the lake between our houses. Did you know he lived way out here?

Roy: No I didn’t. Interesting.

Anne: ?

Roy: Anne Shirley-Cuthbert relentless advocate for change and Gilbert Blythe- the most golden of golden boys. Can’t say I saw that coming.

Anne: BTW he did NOT know that people call him Golden Boy.

Roy: Oops.

Anne: Yeah. Awkward. Then he called me carrots and I slapped him.

Roy: Of course you did.

Anne: And now he is sleeping next to me under a tree.

Roy: I think you left out part of the story.

Anne: I will explain later.

Anne: I should go. I love you too, by the way. Thank you for fighting for our friendship when I lost sight of it.

Roy: You’ll have to try a lot harder to get rid of me.

*

Gilbert’s phone rang and Anne immediately recognized it as the remix of the Sherlock theme song used during Watson’s bachelor party, which of course made her smile. He woke, checked out the display and answered.

“Hey Bash.”

“Hey Blythe, where you at?”

“I’m by the lake. Apparently I fell asleep under a tree.”

“You with anyone?”

“Umm,” he looked toward Anne and she gave a tight lipped smile and a finger wave, “Yeah, Anne is still here.”

There was a brief silence. “You fell asleep with Anne underneath a tree?”

“No. I fell asleep under a tree adjacent to Anne, who was thinking under a tree. She had a rough morning.”

“Because of you?”

“No, not because of me,” he looked at her, “Right?”

She smiled and shook her head.

“Nope, it wasn’t my fault,” he said through his smile, pumping his free hand into the air in a ridiculous display of perceived victory.

“K. Let me know when you get home and I can bring over some chicken.”

“K, I’ll do that. Hey- thanks for calling, Bash. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. Oh, and Dellie wants to talk to you, but she wants to call you herself, so I’ll have her do that right after I hang up.”

“K. Talk to you later.”

*

“Bash calling to check on you?” Anne asked.

“Yeah,” he smiled and his phone rang again, “Sorry, one last call, I promise.”

*

“Hello?”

“Gilber I miss you!” Delphine yelled into the phone.

“I miss you too sweetie, how are you?”

“Good, but I wish you could come over and play. Next time, when we play, we can watch **both** Frozens! I miss you **super** super much.”

“I would love that. I miss you too, so, so much.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really really?”

“I always miss you when I’m not with you, you know that my love.”

“Daddy said you’re with another girl and he said that you thought she was really pretty.”

“Even if that’s true, no one is as pretty as you.”

“Is she going to steal all your kisses?” she asked sadly.

He laughed, “No, of course not, sweetie. That’s not possible; I will always have kisses for you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“I love you Gilber.”

“I love you too sweetheart, I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

“Okay. Bye-bye!”

“Bye sweetie.”

*

He ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket.

She swatted his ribs with the back of her hand, “You lying sack of shit, Gilbert Blythe! Why the fuck would you do that to me?” she exploded.

He flinched when she hit him, but then returned his arms above him so he could rest his head on his hands again. He tried to remain calm, “I have not lied to you, Anne. You need to start trusting me; I’ve been agonizingly truthful with you since meeting you yesterday, even when it meant embarrassing myself. I have given you no reason not to believe me. What are you talking about?”

“You **said** you were single! You implied that you had never kissed anyone! Why would you not just tell me the truth?!”

“Anne?” he said side-eyeing her from the ground, his calm, even tone in stark contrast to her explosive anger.

“WHAT?!”

“That was Delphine Lacroix. Bash’s daughter,” he said as he closed his eyes and relaxed again.

“Oh,” she hid her red face in her arms resting on her knees thinking that there was no coming back from that explosion. _Is it too crazy to pray for a sinkhole to swallow me whole? I mean, they happen in Florida_ **_all_** _the time. I just need one. Just a little one. Please?_

“Yeah.” He let about 30 seconds of silence pass before continuing. “I mean, she’s cute and all, but I hardly consider her girlfriend material. Though I confess I do kiss her a lot. She recently came to the conclusion that kissing her forehead and cheeks is somehow inefficient so she has started turning her head at the last minute so I end up kissing her on the mouth. Makes me feel super creepy. But when I talked to her about stopping she started to cry and it just broke my heart. Even as close as Bash and I are, that was still an awkward conversation. ‘Your daughter keeps kissing me on the mouth, is that okay or am I going to jail?’”

“Was it okay?”

“Yeah, he thought it was cute. Though he let me know if it really bothered me we could deal with it, but I love her more than I feel creepy, so we decided to let it slide.”

“God, you are perfect,” she muttered to herself, looking away from him.

“Excuse me?” he asked, side-eyeing her again in confusion.

“YOU ARE FUCKING PERFECT GILBERT BLYTHE!” she screamed into the sky before her fingers combed into the roots of her hair, pulling at it in frustration.

He sat up, bending his knees and resting an elbow on each one, hands clasped in front of him, “Don’t exaggerate. We both know that’s not true. I have a lot of stuff to figure out.”

She took a deep breath and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, the outburst of emotion having some unfortunate side-effects. She could not believe she was actually preparing the words about to leave her mouth, but if he was leaving town, she wasn’t going to leave here with regrets.

Just above a whisper she said, “I mean perfect for me,” she paused gaining her confidence. “Your beliefs, your intelligence, what you value in people, you are everything I have dreamed of finding, but I was utterly convinced that I was imagining a person who could never exist. And then, here you are. You have been right here; living next to me for four fucking years and I never even knew it. And then I finally meet you and you tell me you are leaving! And, aghhh, you are so pretty! All I want to do is sit and stare at you. Yeah, **that** is what I was doing while you were sleeping. You thought kissing Delphine was creepy? I see your adorable fun uncle kiss and raise you one stranger staring at you while you sleep.” It was too hard to rant while sitting down so she stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of him.

“And you are so nice! How are you so freaking nice? You did not even gloat when you read the description of my dream guy. Let us just acknowledge the fact that it was an exact description of you and move on. I swear when I said that I had no idea what you looked like.” She took a deep breath. _Now or never._

“This is what I meant by this outing being a spectacularly bad idea; **this** is what I was afraid of; I could see this coming the instant I looked into your eyes, just moments after meeting you. I knew I would be utterly bewitched by you but I had no idea just how hard I would fall. And I know this is ridiculous. I promise I do. I get it; it is utterly absurd for me to be feeling this way after spending what, six hours in your company? HA! This is straight up lunacy! And I feel like the worst kind of fool for telling you this. I just met you and I cannot believe any of this is coming out of my mouth. But…” tears started to travel down he cheeks and she continued quieter, “What am I supposed to do? Am I just supposed to be okay as you leave town and go on your merry way gallivanting around the world, never to return? You have absolutely ruined me for everyone else, Gilbert Blythe. Tell me, what the hell do you expect me to do now?”

He rose to his feet, took both her hands in his, brought them to his mouth and kissed them. He lowered their hands, looked her square in the eye and said, “I expect you to say yes when I ask you if you would like to have dinner with me tonight.”

“Okay?” she whispered, breathless in surprise.

“Anne, will you please do me the honor of joining me for dinner?”

“Yes.”

“You have absolutely no idea how happy you have made me, Anne. I’ll come get you at six,” he pulled her toward him and kissed her cheek as gently as he possibly could and whispered, “Don’t dress up; we’re going on an adventure.”

She immediately collapsed to the ground in shock. He was out of sight before she found her breath. She regained feeling in her legs five minutes after that and ten minutes later she finally trusted herself enough to stand and walk home without the fear of passing out.

*

(Gilbert’s phone)

Gilbert: Bash I’m home.

Bash: K, I’ll be right over. How’s Anne?

Gilbert: OMG Bash, I’m in love. And I think she is too. I’ll tell you more when you get here.

*

(Anne’s phone)

Anne: Diana get your hot ass over here ASAP. THINGS ARE HAPPENING.

Diana: On my way.

*

Gilbert answered the door and immediately asked him, “Bash would you consider me skinny?”

Without missing a beat he said, “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. Why?”

Gilbert relayed the morning’s events to him.

“Wow. You move quickly.”

“Only when appropriate, and only emotionally.”

“Sure, that makes it okay. I can’t believe you were wearing the same clothes. How weird is that?”

“So weird that we didn’t even know how to talk about it. I can’t believe I walked away from her without falling over, I absolutely had no control over any part of me, I felt like a puddle personified.”

Sebastian laughed, “I’m sure she was too wrapped up in the moment that she didn’t notice.”

“I hope so.”

“So do you have anything in mind for tonight?”

“Yeah, and I need to eat quickly because I have a lot of work to do to prepare.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Really? You’d do that?”

“Yeah, of course, I’d be happy to help.”

“That’d be awesome! Thank you!” he took a drink. “And make sure you thank Delphine. If not for her triggering Anne’s outburst I don’t think we’d be where we are right now.”

When they finished eating, Gilbert went up to the attic to get the tote of battery powered Christmas lights and candles. They gathered a bunch of cleaning supplies, went out to the barn to get some tools and they headed off to the southwest corner of the orchard.

*

Diana sat there with her mouth wide open in astonishment, Anne having regaled her with the morning’s events in explicit detail.

“Yah,” Anne said nodding at her friend with her eyebrows high.

“He kissed you!”

“Yah.”

“And I can’t believe you told him all that Anne, I’m so proud of you!”

“Me neither and so am I. How did he walk away so confidently after all that? I literally fell to the ground and he walked away like I was a Tuesday!”

Diana was confused by that, “What?”

“Tuesdays are boring.”

She rolled her eyes, “Of course they are. Don’t be stupid, you are the antithesis of boring. What do you think the adventure will be?”

“I have no idea. How do I look good and not dress up?”

“You always look good. Don’t worry about that. You heard him- I really don’t think he cares about that.”

“But what should I wear?”

“Something comfortable. Go take a shower and I’ll look through your clothes. Shave your legs in case I pick out a skirt.”

“Thanks. You are the best!”

*

When they were finishing up preparations, Sebastian asked, “So what do you plan on eating?”

“I haven’t figured that out quite yet. Probably sandwiches? It can’t be anything hot because be the time we get over here, it’ll be cold. Theoretically I could get a pizza delivered, but that seems lazy.”

“After all we’ve done today I don’t think she could possibly believe you are lazy, even if you served her a gumball, but let me take care of the food.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, how long does it take to walk from Green Gables all the way out here?”

“Probably about a half hour.”

“Okay, arrive here at 6:30 and everything will be ready.”

“What are you going to do?”

Sebastian’s eyes were sparkling with mischief. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be great. I already texted Mary and asked her to start working on desert.”

“What do we do between dinner and sunset?”

“Talk I guess? Maybe bring some games?”

“What if it gets awkward?”

“Has that been a problem yet?”

“No, not really, but that was just hanging out. This is like a date.”

“It’s not **like** a date, Blythe, it **is** a date. And you are both excited about it. It’ll be great. Not getting nervous are you?”

“A bit yeah, though based on what she said, I know I shouldn’t be. I know she likes me I just need to not screw up.”

“This is a spectacular idea, kid, you won’t screw this up. You have been honest and open about who you are and what you are looking for. She knows who you are and she is interested in knowing more. You are intrinsically kind and respectful. Be yourself and you have nothing to worry about,” he paused as they looked around, proud of what they had accomplished in just a few hours, “she is going to love this. Hell, anyone would love this. I told Mary all about it and she said I need to step up my game.”

*

After convincing Diana that a black skin tight dress would indeed be dressing up and completely inappropriate for an adventure, she settled on a pair of really stretchy skinny black jeans and a slightly oversized teal sweater with a scoop neck. Not too revealing, just enough so it didn’t look like she was trying to hide under her clothes. She left her hair down and it fell in soft waves nearly to her elbows. She went with her red chucks to dress it up just a bit- they were her nicest, newest pair. She knew Gilbert would like them too, but really, it was mostly because they were comfortable.

Gilbert’s footwear selection wasn’t as varied as Anne’s so he stuck with his black chucks he had been wearing earlier that day. After showering he put on some dark jeans, a navy t-shirt and the olive green hoodie that his dad always told him brought out the green in his eyes. He finger combed his damp hair and the curls fell over his forehead nearly reaching his eyebrows. He stared at himself in the mirror for a minute before making the final decision to remove his contacts and put on his glasses. He knew Anne would like them, but really, it was mostly because they were comfortable.

He arrived at Green Gables at 5:55, but waited on the porch until 6 to knock on the door.

“Good evening, Gilbert, it’s wonderful to see you again,” Marilla greeted him.

“Hi, Ms. Cuthbert, it’s good to see you too,” he said genuinely, “Also, I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you at the funeral. It was uncalled for, I was just upset.”

“No apology needed, dear boy, I think that you get a free pass on the day of your father’s funeral. I appreciate the thought though. Anne! Gilbert is here!”

She ran down the steps and stopped a couple feet in front of him with a huge smile on her face. She had worked herself up to near hysterics while Diana was there that afternoon, but was back to herself when Diana reminded her that Gilbert was attracted to her just as she was. “Be yourself, Anne. That’s enough and that’s all he’s looking for.”

She tried to say ‘hi’ but it came out as a breathless “Wow,” when she saw that he was wearing his glasses. “Sorry. Hi, I mean.”

“Wow,” he smiled sweetly in response.

“Gilbert, one thing before you go; I need you to see this,” Marilla said handing him a folded piece of paper.

Gilbert’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he opened the piece of paper and began to read.

_Dear Mar,_

_I only have two regrets in this life- that I won’t be here to watch Gilbert’s life unfold and that I didn’t reconnect with you sooner. If it’s not too much, I’d like to ask a favor of you. Please invite Gilbert over for dinner after I’m gone. This will sound absurd, but I need him to meet your Anne. Gilbert has lost enough; he deserves to gain someone great in his life. If he gains you and Matthew as well, honestly, I would rest much easier._

_If I know my son, and I do, regardless of what he might think, he will be absolutely enchanted by Anne, though aren’t we all? She is unlike any girl who has shown interest in him and I know he is waiting for something special; something real, and I don’t want him to have to wait anymore. He’s been through enough. I’ve raised him well- he will treat her like a queen, I can promise you that. Not that Anne would take any crap from anyone anyway._

_After you invite him for dinner, I’m pretty sure it will only take a day or two for him to ask her out. When he picks her up for their date, have him read this note. He’ll know why. When he’s finished reading, hand him the enclosed envelope, I’m sure you can tell what it contains. Also, if he doesn’t ask her out within a week of meeting her, give him the envelope anyway._

_Yours again,_

_John_

_(Gilbert, don’t let Anne see you open the envelope or read the note.)_

Gilbert looked up expectantly at Marilla and she handed him an envelope. Anne looked confused but didn’t say anything.

“Excuse me just a minute.”

He stepped outside and ripped the envelope open. He found another letter and a pouch.

_Son,_

_This is NOT an engagement ring; you know where the rings are if and when you choose to use them. This is a promise ring. It’s the one I gave Marilla before I met your mother. Fate sometimes has a rude way of intervening and Marilla and I were not meant to be, but I found her equal in your mother and loved her with every ounce of my heart and soul until she died. I still love her and miss her every day._

_I’ve thought about it a lot since reconnecting with Marilla, how lucky we are that we didn’t end up together. For if we did, I wouldn’t have you and she wouldn’t have Anne and you have both brought us more joy than we could have possibly imagined. After meeting Anne a couple months ago, I truly believe that we fell apart so that you and Anne would find each other. Call me crazy, I don’t care. I dare you to figure out a way to tell me I’m wrong. If you’re reading this, I can only expect that you’ve fallen hard for Anne- you were never one to do something halfway. She is a spectacular young woman and I am so happy for you. Cherish her with abandon; love her without fear._

_All my love,_

_Dad_

_P.S. In the event that Marilla gave this to you because you were to chicken to ask Anne out, know that I will haunt you until you remedy the situation._

He slipped the ring into his pocket and knocked softly to announce he was coming back inside.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized, “Thank you Marilla, for your help? I’m not exactly sure what to say, I wasn’t expecting this.”

Marilla noticed his eyes were glassy, “Oh, come here dear boy,” she said pulling him into a hug. “She feels the same,” Marilla whispered while squeezing him tightly. She released him and said, “Well, you two should be on your way then.”

“Are you ready?” Gilbert asked Anne.

“Yes, very,” she smiled before kissing Marilla’s cheek and giving her a hug, “I will be back… when will I be back?”

“By midnight? Is that okay Ms. Cuthbert?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Anne, please call if your plans change.”

“Thank you,” they both replied and headed out the door.

*

“Where is your car?”

“Why would I bring my car? I said we were going on an adventure,” he said, holding out his had to her.

“What are we doing then?” She placed her hand in his. As their hands fell between them, he intertwined their fingers.

“Going on an adventure.”

“Where?”

“Anne, this is part of that trust thing you’re going to need to work on.”

“Gilbert, I trust you, I am simply curious. What was with the letters?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“So cryptic,” she laughed.

“If I told you now, you’d probably freak out. It’s for your health.”

“Well, that does not make me any less curious and actually increases my concern, so your advocacy for my health is not really panning out.”

“What did you do this afternoon?” he said, intentionally changing the subject.

“Hung out with Diana. You?”

“Hung out with Bash- prepared for this.”

“All afternoon?”

“Yeah, it took more work than I thought it would.”

“What the hell are we doing? I would never want to cause you any trouble!”

“It’s no trouble. It was just a bit of work. And it’s for you, so it’s worth it. I promise.”

Having been delayed by letter reading, Gilbert led them somewhat quickly through the field and into the orchard. They spoke about this and that, never feeling even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Eventually they were nearing their destination.

“So I know you said you’ve come into the orchard before. Did you ever make it to the southwest corner?”

“No, I stuck to the trees by our land. I have spent days in those trees. I am surprised our paths never crossed.”

“Me too. Do you like climbing trees?” He asked with a smile.

“Love it. This may sound crazy, but I feel at home in a tree. Growing up in so many different places I always found solace while in trees. It reminded me that whatever crappy situation I was in would probably pass and until that happened the tree would a reliable source of respite; a constant in a life of turmoil. Even now that I have found a sanctuary with the Cuthberts, spending time in trees remains, without doubt, one my favorite activities.”

He smiled and felt relieved, “Good, I was counting on that.”

After rows and rows of apple trees, they came out of the grove and Anne stopped short, her free hand flying to her mouth, she gasped and found herself unable to keep moving.

Standing majestically before her was a giant maple, alone on a hill, towering above everything. Within its branches was the largest treehouse she had ever seen with a soft glow emanating from its windows. Below it hung the largest tire swing she’d ever seen with bunches of flowers tied onto the ropes. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.

“Come on, your food is going to get cold,” he said softly, leading her up the hill to the ladder, “Ladies first.”

It was not an easy climb, but he figured it wouldn’t be hard for her and he was right. She appeared to fly up the tree.

When she got to the top she could not believe her eyes. The opening into the space gave her a view of what could only be described as a tree mansion. The space was considerably larger than her bedroom at home. The north, east and south walls each had a large opening in them granting picturesque views over the orchard. There was a table pushed up against the southern wall where their food was waiting under those fancy metal covers Anne saw on TV sometimes. There was a marvelous bouquet of flowers and some battery powered candles flickering between the plates and a ridiculously large cake near the wall. She couldn’t quite make out what it looked like through the cover, but the thought that it was for only two people was comical. From the rafters there hung what had to have been at least a dozen strands of Christmas lights. Gilbert climbed through the hole, shut the hatch and arrived by her side. He placed his hand on the small of her back and gently rotated her around to look west.

She gasped and actually took a couple steps back in shock, running into Gilbert. The treehouse had no wall on the western side. It was completely open to a balcony protruding out toward the setting sun, or what would be the setting sun in an hour or so. She walked toward the railing looking out into what could only be described as wilderness. She knew it couldn’t be, not really, but there was absolutely no sign that there was any other living person in existence. Hell, there was no indication that she wasn’t in fact floating through the top of a forest.

“What the hell is this place?” she whispered to herself. She turned back to Gilbert, “Are we in Narnia?”

He laughed, “No, we are in a maple tree in Avonlea that, legend has it, John Blythe planted in celebration of the birth of his son, Gilbert, in 1862.”

Anne raised her eyebrows encouraging him to continue his story, but Gilbert didn’t have much else to say on the matter.

“Yeah, we are not great at naming babies apparently.”

She continued looking around and found some board games stacked in the corner near some pillows and blankets. On every window sill there was a small vase with flowers and some more candles. “This is amazing; just the opportunity to see such a space is more than I could dream. I do not even know how begin to thank you for this.”

“Maybe join me for dinner?” he laughed, “Come on, sit down,” he said as he pulled out a chair for her. “Can I get you something to drink? I have water, or, because I’m nothing if not classy, I also have sparkling apple cider.”

“I **love** sparkling apple cider. Not even joking, it is my favorite.”

“Well, I hope you like ours,” he said, filling her wine glass.

“You made it?” she asked and he nodded. “Then I am sure I will.”

When he finished pouring, he removed the covers from their plates and sat down after setting them aside. They looked at the food, both gasped and said, “Holy crap.”

Gilbert was expecting a simple pasta; maybe some chicken. This meal looked like it had been prepared at a high end restaurant. Anne knew it was Miso steak with warm mirin slaw and rice. Gilbert only knew it looked and smelled amazing.

“How did you do this?”

“Did you not hear my surprise? I didn’t have anything to do with this bit. Bash and Mary had significant roles in food prep. I was going to resort to sandwiches because I didn’t know how to keep the food hot but he said they would take care of it. We just needed to be here at 6:30.”

She laughed, “That makes so much more sense.”

“What’s so funny?”

“I spent a significant amount of time in homeroom last year wondering how to make this dish perfectly. It is pretty cool that he remembered what my favorite meal is.”

“That’s weird isn’t it?”

“Not considering how much I talked about it. I was a bit obsessed. Even if he tried to forget it, I doubt he could.”

They dug into their food and both groaned with delight. “This is amazing!” she exclaimed. “Do you ever go to Masa downtown? This is what I get every time I go.”

“Yes, but every time I do, I’m with Charlie and he always makes me eat sushi and I hate it. This is fantastic, I could eat this forever.”

“Well, next time you can come with me and I will teach you how to eat. Not that I have anything against sushi, but it is hit or miss on what is decent and I have noticed the ones popular around here are all misses.”

They inhaled their food, the only words they exchanged being exclamations of delight at what they were eating. Gilbert had worked up an appetite preparing for the evening and Anne was so worked up earlier that day that she had hardly touched her lunch.

Gilbert went to uncover the cake and found a note taped to the top. He read aloud to Anne, “Anne and Gilbert, before you think I did all this for you, calm yourselves. I had halfway finished a cake for a baby shower when the host called and said that it needed to be pink instead of blue, so lucky you, you get my glorious mistake and it’s going to be delicious. I almost kept it all to myself. I tried to finish it up with some personal touches. I hope you like it! All my love, Mary. P.S. Don’t eat the people. They are fondant and will taste like shit.”

“She did not say that.”

“She absolutely did,” he continued, “P.P.S. Delphine says Anne better not steal all your kisses. P.P.P.S. I am really hoping you are reading this aloud and that I was able to embarrass you a little bit. I don’t want that head of yours getting too big just because you got the attention of a girl who is so fucking beautiful that you want to rip your eyes out. Oops, I just did it again, didn’t I?”

Anne laughed, “You know, no one was making you continue, you could have stopped reading at any time and it would have been fine.”

“I would have stopped if she said anything that wasn’t true, but I actually did say that. You know what I think of you. I maintain that beauty isn’t very important, but I freely admit that you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”

“Wow. Thank you,” she said and stared at him intently for a minute. “So, Mary is a baker?”

“She’s not **a** baker; she’s the **best** baker.”

He carefully removed the cover and Anne said, “Holy crap! Mary is an artist!”

“How did she do this?”

“Years and years of practice I suspect.”

“She’s only 24!”

“Then it must just be straight up God given talent. I need to take some pictures of this, hold on.”

Anne got out her phone and took about 20 pictures of the masterpiece. Mary’s cake was blue alright, and she had turned it into a lake, complete with reeds and grasses in various shades of brown and green frosting. In the middle there were two figurines in matching outfits, one with red hair, one with brown, in a rowboat. There was a turtle swimming alongside the boat, raising his head up to look at its occupants.

She texted a picture to Diana before putting her phone away.

“Dang,” she said on a sigh, “It is almost a shame to eat it.”

Gilbert enthusiastically offered his counterpoint. “I disagree. Its purpose in this world is to be consumed and enjoyed. You wouldn’t dare deny the cake its very destiny, would you?”

“I would never!” she answered as if she were offended by the insinuation.

Gilbert looked around “Ugh, sorry, I screwed up. I don’t have a knife for the cake or clean forks… or plates.”

“I do not think I am quite ready for cake yet anyway, we can go back to your house in a bit for supplies. I was wondering. Could I… gosh, I feel like such a child. Can I play on the tire swing for a bit?”

“Only if I can join you,” he smiled brightly. He loved that swing, but hadn’t used it in years. Seeing Anne’s excitement for it warmed his heart.

“Well, I am not entirely sure it is big enough,” she joked.

“Right,” he laughed and went to open the hatch.

After their descent, they arranged themselves opposite each other on the swing and began swinging languorously through the cooling summer air. Alternately taking time to close their eyes and lean back against the momentum of the swing.

After a few minutes of silence, Anne asked, “So you built this place? With your dad I assume?”

“Yeah. When I was 12 I asked my dad how my mom died and I took it really, really hard. I barely slept that summer. Dad would find me sleep walking outside in the middle of the night. Eventually he had to move my bed into his room just so he could lock me in and keep me safe. He thought building this would be a welcome distraction; a goal for us to work toward together. I haven’t been out here much recently, so Bash came over today and helped me clean up and make sure it is safe.”

“You are going to regret telling me about this place. I do not think I will ever be able to leave.”

“Good, I don’t want you to leave.”

“You are going to get sick of me.”

“Not possible.”

“How can you say that so certainly? You still barely know me.”

“Do you see yourself growing sick of me?”

“No.”

“That’s how.”

After a few more minutes she dragged her feet across the ground, bringing the tire swing to a stop.

He looked at her curiously, “Are you ready to go get stuff for the cake?”

She looked at him with slight confusion in her eyes, “Ah no, no I am not.”

“What’s wrong?”

She smiled, “Nothing is wrong. I have just been wondering; what exactly did you mean the other day, when you said by spending time with you I would be feeding an insatiable curiosity?”

He smiled and said, “It was the least creepy way I could think of saying that I needed more of you.”

She looked at him intently, “And if I felt that way now, would you return the favor?”

“Anne, I’m pretty sure you could convince me to do anything.”

She placed her hands on his chest, grabbed on to his hoodie and pulled him toward her whispering, “Help feed an insatiable curiosity, Gilbert Blythe.”

He eagerly closed the gap and they both instantly knew this kiss was worth the wait. Anne had spent much of the afternoon and most of the previous night imagining what it would be like to kiss him and if she was honest, she was disappointed; her imagination had fallen alarmingly short. She had always prided herself on her ability to dream but no realm of her imagination was capable of conjuring the feeling of pure bliss she was experiencing from the seemingly simplistic action of his lips resting on hers. His lips **were** soft, much softer than she thought they would be, and she didn’t understand how it could be so firm, yet so tender. The entire experience was contradictory. _How can something so small make me feel so much?_

She broke the kiss, pulling her head away from his. His lips chased hers, reluctant to allow their separation. He finally caught himself and sat back, allowing the space. She said softly, “I’m sorry if you had other plans, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. I hope that’s okay.”

His voice seemingly dropped an octave, “That sentence was full of contractions, Anne. Have you finally found something worth diminishing the meaning and poeticism of the English language?”

“Yes,” she said breathily.

He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, his hand coming to rest on the back of her neck. “Never apologize for kissing me. Ever. And you may kiss me whenever the hell you want.” He pulled her to him to continue what she had started.

After a couple minutes Gilbert somehow managed to stop kissing her, “Anne, if we don’t eat that cake, there are going to be questions that I won’t want to answer.”

“Fine,” she said in mock frustration, “I will eat the beautiful cake.”

*

A ten minute walk brought them back to Gilbert’s house. They entered and to Anne it immediately felt like home. For only having one inhabitant, the space was teaming with life. There were plants scattered around and everything looked well loved. Not worn out or ratty, but appreciated and cherished. She eyed Gilbert’s setup on the couch, it was just as he described it and she chuckled softly to herself.

“Can I use your bathroom?”

“Down the hall, second door on the left.”

She found the bathroom and used the time to check her phone. She found she missed five messages from Diana.

Diana: OMG that cake is amazing! SO BEAUTIFUL!

Diana: How is it going?

Diana: I expect you to share all the details with excruciating detail so I can live vicariously through you.

Diana: BTW we’re having a girls night so I had to explain why you weren’t here. Ruby is jealous AF but she’s happy for you.

Diana: Please give me an update soon! We are dying over here.

Anne: I have no words.

Diana: You? Really?

Anne: Rather you would think me insane if I told you the words most prevalent in my mind. I do not think I can even fully own up to it yet.

Diana: Ooooo I’m intrigued. Tell me!

She noticed her hands were shaking and her face flushed at the realization. She whispered to herself, “I am going to marry that boy.”

Anne: I gotta go. I have been in the bathroom too long.

Diana: Anne!

Diana: ANNE! YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THIS!

Diana: I’m going to punch you in your beautiful face you twit.

Diana: I can’t even believe you right now. You better have a good explanation for your behavior tonight young lady.

When she returned, Gilbert was waiting with two clean forks. “I figure we can just eat it off the tray- less to clean up that way.”

“Finally putting that brain of yours to good use,” she teased as he opened the door for her and they headed back to the treehouse.

*

After they had climbed back up Gilbert said, “I figured we would eat the cake and watch the sunset on the balcony? Is that okay?”

“You know it is.”

He arranged the blankets and pillows on the balcony and brought the cake over. Anne poured them more cider and brought the glasses to the balcony.

“It’s too bad the railing is in the way, or maybe we should bring the chairs over?”

He gave her a smirk that somehow left her feeling simultaneously empowered and helpless, walked over to the railing and lifted the middle four foot section out of the deck and set it aside.

“What the hell?”

“My dad was smart. He thought of everything.”

“He thought that you might bring a girl up here someday and she would complain about the railing being in the way of the sunset?”

He laughed, “No. He wanted an unobstructed view of the sunset while laying down. Said he and my mother made a point of watching the sunset together at least once a week. Helped them to slow down and appreciate what they had.”

“Remarkable.”

They sat down side by side on the blanket, clinked their forks together in some absurd version of cheers and dug into the cake.

“Oh my goodness this is the most amazing cake. I am going to eat it all.”

“I doubt that’s possible.”

“Challenge accepted. To quote a wise man, or well, you, it is delicious and I have very little self-control.”

“You can’t be serious. This cake was probably meant to serve twelve people!”

“Well then pull your weight Blythe. I cannot eat it if you get to it first.”

They only made it halfway through the cake.

“I told you that you couldn’t do it.”

“I did not realize how rich it would be.”

“Cut the lame excuses, just admit that you were wrong.”

“I honestly could keep going, but I plan on laying down on my stomach and I do not want to explode.”

“Fair point.”

He set the cake aside and they lay down on their stomachs, side by side, looking out toward the setting sun.

“Tell me something interesting about yourself, Gilbert Blythe. Something I do not know.”

“I have an uncontrollable fear of centipedes, millipedes and caterpillars. I just can’t handle all the legs.”

She laughed “I have never figured out how to whistle and it drives me insane.”

“Whenever I walk through an automatic door I pretend I’m a Jedi. I mean I don’t get all into it like I did when I was a kid, but I definitely still think about it.”

“I do not remember being hugged before arriving in Avonlea.”

“What?”

“I know that is kind of heavy, but I want you to know that if you ever touch me and I flinch or I recoil at something, I am just a little broken sometimes.”

“I’m so sorry, Anne. I don’t know what to say.”

“You do not have to say anything; just tell me something else about yourself.”

“There were times that my dad would cry just from looking at me because I look so much like my mother. I never told him how much that hurt me.”

“I cannot put into words how much I am going to miss you when you leave.”

“I’m not going.”

“What?”

“I was being an idiot. I was just running away. That’s all the trip ever was. I do need to figure out who I am and what I’m going to do with my life, but I’m not going to find it out there. I wanted to leave because it was going to be so blatantly apparent how alone I am, but that hasn’t been the case at all. I could not believe how many people there were at the funeral. Sometimes living in a small town is the absolute worst, but I know there are people here who I can go to for help at any time and they will do it. I may no longer have my father here, but I have family, and it’s a **really** good one. I have Bash, Mary and Dellie. It’s ridiculous, but when I think of not seeing Dellie at least once a week it hurts.”

“You are just afraid that she is going to get mad at you for leaving.”

He laughed. “Terrified. I will figure out what I’m going to do with my life, but I don’t think going on a long vacation will help me right now. I’ll go to the University here on the island and take care of some generals and look into various fields like you suggested. I think that’s the proper way to figure out what I should do.”

“Do you not want to see those places though? You seemed so set on the destinations.”

“I do. And I will. But I think I’d rather go with someone than make my way alone.”

“Sounds like you have got it all figured out.”

They lay there silently for a few minutes, looking out as the sun began descending below the horizon.

“Anne?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For existing. For being here. For being you. For being so much more than I thought a person was capable of being. I thought there was something wrong with me, not being interested in Winnie or any of the others, but it makes sense now. I’m just so relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“Yes, I’m relieved that I won’t have to spend the rest of my life bored.”

Her face snapped toward him, “Pardon?”

“Sorry, I don’t mean… I’m not assuming that… I don’t expect anything from you, ughhh, I told Bash I’d screw this up. Anne, I’m sorry. What I mean to say is I’m glad that there are people like you in the world. Intelligent, insightful, honest, kind and absolutely stunning. Knowing that there are people like you gives me hope.”

“You mean people like us?”

He laughed softly, “Yeah, I suppose that is true.”

“You did not tell me about the letters yet.”

“They were from my dad. The last night he was alive he told me that he was certain I would find my equal and that she was closer than I realized, I just needed to keep my eyes and my heart open. He seemed to have someone in mind, but when I asked him who, he wouldn’t tell me. I thought it would give him some peace of mind to set me off in the right direction but he just said he already took care of it. I was pissed so I left it alone. The letter you saw me read was actually addressed to Marilla, asking her to invite me over to dinner so I would meet you.”

“God bless you, John Blythe,” she whispered to the sky.

“The letter you didn’t see me read,” he paused to retrieve the pouch from his pocket, “contained this ring. It is a promise ring that he gave Marilla when they were younger. Here, just read the note,” he said and handed her the letter.

He watched her read it. When she was done, he took the ring out of the pouch and looked at it. It was a simple braided gold band, slightly tarnished with age, but incredibly beautiful.

“Anne,” he began cautiously, still trying to form his thoughts. Everything he wanted to say to her he felt had already been said, so he went with something new. “I love you.”

She held her breath in disbelief at his proclamation. Sure, she felt it too, but she didn’t expect it to come out tonight.

“If you want this,” he said offering her the ring, “If you want **me** , I promise you; I am entirely yours. Hell… even if you don’t want me, I am entirely yours. I’m all in, for as long as you’ll have me.”

She confidently took the ring from him and slid it onto her finger. “I love you too and I hope you mean it, because I plan on keeping you for a very, very long time.”

He turned toward her and put every ounce of what he was feeling into kissing her. The tenderness from earlier was gone, replaced with urgency and pure passion. Anne surmised that when she read descriptions of searing kisses, this is what they were talking about. It was amazing and she matched his enthusiasm with her own. After a few minutes, Gilbert stopped for a moment and stared into her eyes, “I can’t believe this is happening.”

She pinched him and he laughed. “This is very much happening, and I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

“You know I don’t want to push you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with right? That got kind of… intense and we don’t need to do that yet. I’m more than happy just to be near you.”

“Kissing is fine. It’s great, actually. I’m completely comfortable with what we’ve done so far, but I’m going to need your help to keep it to just that for now. Can I trust you, Gilbert Blythe?”

“Yes, you can and I agree with kissing being enough. But I’m curious, having made the decision, why do you need my help?”

“Because you’re delicious and apparently I have **very** little self-control,” she whispered as she leaned in to kiss him again.


End file.
